Titan of the Future
by Rider Paladin
Summary: Another collaboration with JOUNOUCHI-sama. Nightwing's son comes to the present from the future entirely by accident, and may or may not walk into trouble. Or be trouble. The Titans will let you know when they can wrap their heads around it.
1. To Fly

Note: This story happened because of all the wasted potential of Teen Titans since One Year Later. JOUNOUCHI-sama and I have taken it upon ourselves to do something about that wasted potential. This is why this story exists.

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to the overall DC Universe, and the DCU belongs to DC Comics. We are not professionals associated with DC Comics, and even if we were, we probably would not be entitled to full creative control.

~FTF~

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 1: "To Fly"

_20 years later . . ._

Two male figures stood facing each other in front of an impossibly large computer screen. One was an imposing man in a black cape and pointy-eared cowl over a dark gray body armor suit with a black bat symbol plastered over his chest. The other was a slightly smaller young man with mussed blond hair and dressed in a black suit with a stylized blue-on-black symbol on his chest and a blue-lined black cape around his shoulders.

The Batman stared at the younger man before him. "There's something I need your help with." He turned to the screen and brought up some images, specifically of a character named Warp.

"Warp?" the younger man, barely a man at that, asked.

"Yeah," Batman confirmed. "He's stolen some dimensional refraction technology from S.T.A.R. Labs. If I didn't know better – and frankly, I don't – I'd swear he wanted to use it to go backwards or forwards in time or other dimensions."

"And you want me to stop him."

Batman smiled good-naturedly. "That would be nice."

The young man turned to leave, but Batman stopped him. "It'd ease my mind if you'd wear something to conceal your identity from Warp."

"Why?"

"Warp's fought you enough times that he knows his way around your abilities. If you disguised yourself, you might be able to surprise him, especially if you don't use the more . . . obvious of your abilities."

The young man looked at Batman askance. "You're awfully worried."

"I'm your dad. I have a right to be."

The young man sighed. "Fine. If it'll make you feel better, I'll wear whatever it is you want me to wear."

"Good," Batman stated. "I have just the thing."

He went to the row of display cases that showed the costumes of various warriors in the crusade begun by Bruce Wayne so many years ago. He looked at the original Robin costume and smiled impishly at his son.

"Oh. No. Hell, no! I am _not_ wearing the little green shorts _again!_" the young man declared.

"Think of all the girls who'll be all over you," Batman teased him.

"No. I am not wearing the little green shorts _again,_" the young man insisted.

"Everyone's a critic," Batman moaned good-naturedly. "How about this?" He showed the young man the original Nightwing suit.

"You have no taste," the young man mumbled.

"Ok, how about this?" This time, Batman showed him a different Nightwing suit. It was pitch black, with a bright red wing-like stripe running across the chest, over the shoulders, and down the arms. In the center of that stripe was a diamond shape designed to resemble the head and tail of a bird in northward flight. It came with armored braces around the wrists and shins and guards for the shoulders and knees. The braces and guards were made of a special light plastic that wouldn't sacrifice the wearer's freedom of movement for added protection against gunfire.

"I can live with that," the young man said.

"Good," Batman replied. "You might want to change your hair and eye color, too; wouldn't want Warp to recognize you."

"Sure," the young man agreed, concentrating for a moment and his blond hair darkened to black and his eyes shifted from blue to green.

"Just remember to be home before nine," Batman suggested. "Or else your mother's going to wipe the floor with you."

The newly dark-haired young man repressed a shudder. His mother could be scary when she was mad. Dinner was a very important occasion for her, never before having really had the comfort of a family, and if her only son was going to be late, it would not bode well for his health.

"I'll remember."

Batman chuckled. "Good."

~FTF~

The young man, known as Nightwing, groaned as he opened his falsely green eyes. "What . . . where am I?"

He looked around. "And where's Warp? That's the last thing I need, us being in separate dimensions. Not that I want to be in the same dimension as that bastard, but . . ."

That didn't matter right now. The thing that mattered now was figuring out where – and when – he was. Once that had been done, he could take the rest as it came. The first order of business was finding a newspaper, and luckily enough for him there was a discarded newspaper about a hundred meters down from his position. Quickly racing down those hundred meters, he picked up the paper and looked at the date.

The month and day made no real difference, but the year . . . "Aw, crap. I just went back in time, didn't I?"

Throwing the newspaper aside, and only idly memorizing the year, he took to the sky, darting from rooftop to rooftop at blinding speed. He recalled another piece of information that newspaper had given him. The title of that newspaper had marked it as a local paper, of the city of San Francisco.

_That's where the Teen Titans are, at least for now . . ._ he thought. _Might as well find them first._

~FTF~

It turned out to be child's play to infiltrate Titans Tower and access its database. Granted, the only reason he had an advantage was that he was from the future and thus this time's security was like a low fence that someone of sufficient athletic ability could jump over, but that didn't make much of a difference. It especially helped that Selina Kyle, the original Catwoman, had taught him everything he knew about stealthy entrances and exits.

If he wanted to not be found out just yet, he would have to create a false file for himself, so no one would think to ask where and when he really came from. The database did yield other interesting details, like the current Titans roster – Robin, Ravager, Wonder Girl, Miss Martian, Kid Devil, Raven, Cyborg, and Jericho. Before he could continue on, he heard someone come in.

"May I help you?" Nightwing asked.

"Who are you?" Cyborg asked. "You're not Nightwing."

"Semantics," Nightwing answered. "Spell mine with a 'k' if it helps you tell us apart."

Cyborg pointed his cannon arm at Nightwing. "You have until the count of ten to explain yourself, and after that I'm throwing you out!"

Nightwing sighed. "It's actually quite pointless for us to fight each other over a misunderstanding like this. If you'll bring me to the other Titans and allow me to explain myself, you might see that I mean you and your team no harm."

Cyborg's sensors told him that Nightwing was telling the truth and he lowered his cannon arm. "Fine. But I see any hint that you're trouble, and I'm knocking you out on your ass."

"Fair enough," Nightwing said.

~FTF~

"I'm from the future," Nightwing explained. "I was chasing Warp through time and things happened. Really strange things. Then I woke up here. Oh, and my father sent me to stop him."

"Who would your father be?" Robin, Tim Drake, asked.

"Batman," Nightwing replied.

"_What?_" Robin, Tim Drake, uttered in quiet suspicion.

"My father is Batman," Nightwing replied. "Or as you call him now, Nightwing."

"Nightwing – our Nightwing – became Batman?" Cyborg restated. "I thought he didn't _want_ to become Batman!"

"No," Nightwing admitted. "But my grandfather didn't want to leave Gotham without Batman and he thought my father was the best for the job."

"So who's your mother?" Raven asked.

"I'll keep that to myself for now, since I don't want to risk altering the timeline, but here's a hint – my real hair color's red," Knightwing replied. His hair momentarily took on a particularly apple-like shade of red, only to revert to black.

"Figures," Cyborg muttered to himself. "Nightwing sure loves his redheads."

"Neat trick," Kid Devil remarked. "How'd you do it?"

"Nanites," Knightwing replied. "Pretty useful for when I don't want anyone to recognize me."

"Wow, so you're a cyborg like Cyborg, only more advanced!" Kid Devil nearly gushed. "That is so cool."

"How did you get here?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Jumping rooftops, like a good Bat does," Nightwing replied impishly.

"You're holding back a lot," Robin stated suspiciously.

"Sorry, but my secrets are necessary. Besides, even to your closest friends, would you reveal everything?" Nightwing questioned coolly.

"No," Robin replied. "But that just makes it even more curious who your mother is."

"Not telling," Nightwing said.

"We could always do a DNA test, see if you are who you say you are," Cyborg suggested.

"I sense he is telling the truth," Miss Martian interjected. "Or at least most of it."

"Yeah," Cyborg agreed. "My sensors aren't picking up any abnormalities in his heart rate or breathing, either, so he could be on the up-and-up. Just need a little concrete proof, though."

Ravager smirked, her blue eye alight with mischief. "I know a way we could get that DNA from him."

Wonder Girl rolled her eyes. "No, Rose, you aren't going to sink your claws into him."

"Who said it'd be claws?" Ravager asked. "I can be gentle."

Nightwing looked at Ravager curiously. "I'll be ok. Just . . . could I stay here for a while? At least until I find a place of my own?"

"Fine," Cyborg assented. "But we'll be watching you."

"I'm sure you will," Nightwing acknowledged.


	2. To Light

Note: Things are going to get interesting with this future-Nightwing. Then again, the Titans have had problems with Nightwings from the future before, so who knows if this guy's presence is a good thing? It's going to mostly be filler, just future-Nightwing getting to know the Titans in more ways than one.

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics. The Nightwing that appears here is largely our own creation. We make no money whatsoever from this story, nor do we receive any other material compensation for writing it.

~FTF~

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 2: "To Light"

~FTF~

Morning came and the Titans, including Nightwing, were eating breakfast. Kid Devil looked at Nightwing and asked, "So do you get to drive the Batmobile?"

"No," Nightwing answered. "I fly the Batmobile."

Robin looked at Nightwing. "The Batmobile flies?"

"Yeah," Nightwing confirmed. "Uncle Damian came up with that. Guy might be a tad wrong in the head, but it works for him. And occasionally us."

"So the little psycho sticks around," Robin murmured.

"Flying Batmobile," Ravager commented. "You must get a lot of good mileage out of that."

"Yeah," Nightwing answered. "Unless the mileage I'm thinking about isn't the mileage you're talking about."

Ravager chuckled, as Wonder Girl scowled.

"Enjoying breakfast?" Raven asked.

"Always," Nightwing replied. "Particularly when you do it."

"Me?" Raven questioned.

"Yeah," Nightwing confirmed. "You're like my second mother."

"Who's your first?" Cyborg asked.

"Can't tell you, trying not to change the future too much," Nightwing replied.

"The mystery boy routine is going to get played out after a while," Raven drawled. "A very short while."

~FTF~

Later that morning, Nightwing and Robin were practicing their staff-fighting technique . . . on each other. It really wasn't hard for Nightwing to control his strength; he'd been learning how to do that almost since the day he was born. That, combined with the lifetime of combat training he'd received from his "relatives" in the Bat-family, enabled him to easily keep up with Robin.

"You're pretty good at this," Robin remarked.

"Thanks," Nightwing replied. "You taught me most of what I know."

"Really?" Robin asked with muted curiosity.

"Yeah," Nightwing confirmed. "We practice like this all the time back when I'm from. And I'm not that good, really. The most I've been able to do against you is a stalemate."

"I must be really good in the future, then," Robin commented lightly.

"You are," Nightwing answered. The next thing he knew, he was nearly knocked on his butt. "My blind side. I still haven't been able to figure out how to compensate for that properly."

"You've just gotta stop talking so much," Robin commented.

"It's a good distraction for my opponents," Nightwing said.

"But it distracts you, too, doesn't it?"

"They don't know that."

~FTF~

Nightwing had moved on to Wonder Girl, wanting to test his skills against hers. As they fought, Nightwing was able to keep up with her, although since Wonder Girl was under the impression that he was a physically normal human like his father, she held back a lot on him. Even so, she was still quite formidable.

"I have a question," Nightwing said as he got Wonder Girl in position for a throw.

"Shoot," Wonder Girl replied.

"I noticed some tension between you and Ravager," Nightwing remarked, just as he was about to throw her. It didn't exactly work out that way, as the brief surge of anger at the thought of the silver-haired swordswoman was channeled into turning Nightwing's move against him. "Whoa!" He chuckled. "I say something wrong?"

"No," Wonder Girl answered. "We just don't get along that well."

"Why not?" Nightwing wondered.

At that moment, it occurred to Wonder Girl that Nightwing might not be in the best of health after that throw, as she had used more of her strength than she'd intended. "You all right?"

"Don't mind me. Best armor my time can produce. A little servo-circuitry here and there to enhance my movements, and I'm right as rain."

Of course, he was completely lying about the servo-circuitry; there was none in his armor, but that would be a convenient excuse in case the Titans caught him accidentally using too much of his natural strength.

"But you didn't answer the question," he persisted. "What's up between you and Ravager?"

"Why? You interested in her?" Wonder Girl asked, with a slight look of "you can do better" aimed at him.

Nightwing smiled. "Maybe, although I've heard it's good to get to know someone through the eyes of the people who spend the most time with her."

"She's bad news."

"She's a Titan."

"Yeah, and the Titans are like family. Doesn't mean they don't have their black sheep, too."

"I can understand, but I don't see what's so bad about her. She just looks like she could use a few friends right now."

"What was that move you were going to use on me?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Oh, you recognized it?" Nightwing surmised. "Good. Aunt Diana taught me that move."

"Aunt Diana? Does that mean your mother's –"

"Not saying." Nightwing's voice was a teasing singsong.

"Will you at least say what happens to Robin?" Wonder Girl asked.

"He does get married," Nightwing answered.

~FTF~

Robin and Cyborg watched from the Monitor Room as Nightwing worked on Titans Tower's security system. "I still think Oracle's his mother," Robin said.

"And I say Starfire," Cyborg contested. "Nightwing loved her for years. Hard to believe his first kid wouldn't be hers."

"Nightwing also loved Oracle for years," Robin insisted. "In fact, she was the first woman he ever loved."

"First crush, maybe," Cyborg contradicted. "Love is a lot deeper than infatuation, kid. Saw that with Nightwing and Starfire when they were together."

"Feelings change over time. I won't say he didn't love her then, because he did, but that was a long time ago."

"Not that long ago. I know Nightwing. He doesn't fall out of love easy once he falls into it."

"And I know Nightwing, too. He's like a brother to me."

"He's like a brother to me, too. And I knew him longer than you did."

"How much time do you spend with him nowadays?"

"What are you trying to prove?"

"A point."

Just then, Nightwing's voice could be heard over the intercom. _"Finished. Your security should be even better than before. Oh, and by the way, I could hear every minute of your little tête-à-tête in there. You can argue about it until you're both blue in the face, but I'm not telling you who my mother is."_

Robin and Cyborg had nearly identical scowls on their faces. _"By the way, I'm going to see Raven now. Don't start any parties without me."_

~FTF~

"For someone so talkative and arrogant, you really are focused," Raven remarked after their meditation session was finished.

"Thanks to you," Nightwing answered. "Dad sent me to you to keep me out of trouble. It worked . . . mostly."

"Mostly?" Raven arched her eyebrow.

"I'm a superhero," Nightwing stated. "It's my job to get into trouble if it keeps or gets other people out of it."

"How very noble of you." The sarcasm in her tone was palpable, but there was some genuine respect in there.

"Eh, not really. I just like the thrill of fighting. Figure I should at least use my tremendous skill for the benefit of innocent people."

Raven chuckled. "Are you like this back in your time, too, or are you just putting up an act so nobody sees that you really have no clue what you're doing here?"

"Kinda," Nightwing admitted. "I mean, I came here on a mission, and I can't really do it that well if the guy I'm chasing down is probably in some other time or reality doing the whole 'damn, it feels good to be a gangsta' thing."

"We'll help you find him," Raven said.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

~FTF~

The night had mostly passed quietly. About the only thing that happened was that Ravager had snuck into Nightwing's room. Nightwing had been aware of her all along, but feigned surprise to see what she'd do.

"What are you doing here, Ravager?" he asked.

"Just wanted to check out the new guy," Ravager replied, smiling as she straddled him.

"Do you do this with all the boys?" Nightwing asked, arching an eyebrow.

Ravager smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"As much as I like it when a woman shows interest, I really do have to sleep. Do you mind?"

"No. We can sleep together."

"Sleep together, you say? In what sense?" Nightwing inquired as he smirked back at her.

"Depends on how you want it," Ravager purred.

"Don't be a tease."

Ravager stroked Nightwing's face, beginning a slow grind of her body against his. "You're so cute when you're trying to act like you're not tempted."

Nightwing gripped Ravager's hips, mostly to stop her, but Ravager just smirked, taking it as him taking a little more initiative. He stared into her singular eye. "I _really_ have to sleep."

Ravager smiled. "That's all right. At least you're interested. That's more than I get from your 'uncle.'" She got off him, deliberately brushing her body against his as she moved away. "See you in the morning."

"See you in the morning," Nightwing murmured as Ravager walked out of his room.


	3. To Fight

Note: Now, we head into the "Titans East" arc of OYL Teen Titans. How will things change now that Nightwing (the one from the future) is a member of the Titans? Or will things change at all? And if they do change, will they be for the better . . . or the worse?

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics, and I make no money whatsoever from this story.

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 3: "To Fight"

~FTF~

"What do you mean, you can't bring back Kon?" Robin asked.

"I cannot," Raven answered ruefully, not looking at Robin or Wonder Girl, but instead at the screen that depicted Robin's efforts to re-clone his lost friend.

"You brought back Jericho!" Wonder Girl yelled almost accusingly. "Why can't you bring back Kon?!"

"Jericho's soul was still bound to this world," Raven replied. "That is why I could restore his body. I cannot do the same for Conner, because his soul has already passed on from this world."

"It's . . . it's not fair . . ." Robin muttered bitterly.

"Lotta things aren't fair, man," a familiar voice remarked, just before a blur of yellow and red took down all three Titans. Wonder Girl was able to get up and look for their attacker, who'd stopped to reveal Kid Flash . . . only blond. "Kid Flash is back."

"You're not Kid Flash!" Wonder Girl exclaimed. "Who are you?"

The false Kid Flash dodged Wonder Girl's rush and zipped around the laboratory, mockingly dodging every one of her attacks. "Would you prefer Impulse?" He changed into a cream-white costume with red gloves and boots and a thick red lightning stripe in the center. "Some people do."

"Who are you?!" Wonder Girl asked, as she attacked the speedster again.

"Oh, you want to know that?" the speedster asked. "Sure, I'll show you." He changed into an inverted version of the costume he'd been wearing, black instead of white and green instead of red. "My name's Thad Thawne. Call me Inertia. Nice seeing you again, babe."

Wonder Girl remembered Inertia, specifically how he'd constantly tried to kill and replace Bart when Bart had been Impulse. He'd disappeared after his last attempt, but now he was back. For what, Wonder Girl didn't know, but she knew it didn't matter. She was taking him down.

Just then, Wonder Girl saw Nightwing flying toward her like he'd been flung in her direction. She quickly dodged, as Nightwing contorted in midair and crash-landed. "Nightwing?!"

"Sorry," Nightwing replied. "But this punk didn't come alone."

Just then, a chalk-skinned boy with an unnatural resemblance to the departed Superboy and even dressed in a raggedy version of his costume, except with an inverse S-shield, emerged, his eyes glowing red.

"Oh, no . . . no . . ." Wonder Girl murmured in dismay.

"Heh," Inertia remarked. "We clones got to stick together. Take 'em down, Match."

With surprising speed, Match punched Wonder Girl in the stomach, knocking her out. Nightwing looked around, seeing that Robin and Raven were also down for the count. He smirked at Inertia and Match. "Shouldn't have done that."

"Why?" Inertia asked. "You gonna do something about it, you Renegade wannabe?"

"Yes," Nightwing replied, and in a flash of speed smacked Inertia across the mouth with enough force to send him flying.

"Who the hell are you?" Inertia asked.

"I'm from the future," Nightwing retorted just before jumping up to knee Match in the head. Managing to knock Match back, Nightwing sped up to him and delivered a vicious tornado kick to his chin, knocking him down. Inertia accelerated to attack Nightwing, and Nightwing accelerated to match him, both of them trading blows at what had to be several times the speed of sound.

Just then, Raven managed to open her eyes, just in time to see Nightwing kick Inertia hard enough to send him flying. She looked at Nightwing in curiosity. _More to him than meets the eye. Maybe Donna is his mother after all._

Just then, Match attacked Nightwing again, fighting him more forcefully now that he was certain Nightwing was a threat. Nightwing blocked his attacks to the best of his ability, but the raw power Match was bringing to bear was almost more than he could take. Nightwing noticed that Raven was awake and barely had time to internally curse his luck before getting punched in the jaw by Match.

Match's intelligence might have been decreased by his degeneration, but he seemed to know enough to press his advantage when he got it, judging by how he started beating Nightwing mercilessly like a predator animal smelling blood. Finally, Nightwing grabbed Match's bloodied fist and threw him one-armed at Inertia, who dodged to evade Match's falling body . . . and right into a punch from Nightwing.

Inertia managed to smirk coldly. "You're feeling it, aren't you?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," Nightwing retorted. "But let's not waste time talking."

Inertia and Match tag-teamed Nightwing right then, forcing him to defend himself from both of them. "What's the matter, run out of moves?" Inertia asked.

"No, _you're_ gonna run out of moves!" Nightwing retorted, using a flash of heat vision to evade Inertia and Match. Unfortunately for him, Match countered with a stronger burst of heat vision from his end, sending Nightwing crashing to the ground in a smoking heap.

"Leave him," Inertia said. "Let's get what we came for."

~FTF~

When Nightwing woke up, he saw that he was completely alone in Robin's cloning lab, meaning that Inertia and Match had gotten away with Robin, Raven, and Wonder Girl. "Damn it . . ." he muttered.

Rising to his feet, Nightwing ascended to the monitor room of Titans Tower and patched in a distress call. "All Titans within the sound of my voice, come to Titans Tower. We've been attacked."

Nightwing waited for anyone to respond to his call. Ultimately, some former Titans showed, such as Donna Troy, Red Arrow, Beast Boy, Bart Allen (dressed as the Flash), and the present-day Nightwing. The future Nightwing looked at the Titans that had shown, who all were looking at him suspiciously.

"And who the hell are you?" Red Arrow asked.

"Nightwing. From the future," Future-Nightwing answered.

"Man, where have I heard that before?" Red Arrow asked somewhat sarcastically. "Wait. If _you're_ Nightwing, then what about _our_ Nightwing?"

"He's Batman in my time," Future-Nightwing answered.

"Are you serious?" Red Arrow asked. "We all know how Nightwing feels about becoming Batman!"

"The original felt the city would be in better hands with Dad carrying the mantle than with anyone else," Future-Nightwing replied.

"Still doesn't make sense," Beast Boy remarked. "Nightwing swore he'd never become Batman in a hundred years."

Present-Nightwing blinked underneath his mask, stunned by Future-Nightwing's revelations and a specific element of those revelations. "Huh? 'Dad'?"

"Yeah," Future-Nightwing replied. "But that's not the point right now. The Titans are in trouble. Inertia and Match showed up and made off with Robin, Raven, and Wonder Girl. I wouldn't be surprised if the other Titans were being attacked, too."

Present-Nightwing had a look of carefully contained dismay. "Rose and Joey . . . I was just visiting them over in New York."

"Do you know where Cyborg, Miss Martian, and Kid Devil are?" Donna asked.

"Cyborg and Miss Martian were interrogating Bombshell, and Kid Devil was in church," Future-Nightwing replied.

"Then we'd better go find them," Present-Nightwing said. He looked at Future-Nightwing. "We're gonna have a long talk when this is over, whoever you are."

Future-Nightwing merely nodded, and then the assembled Titans went to track down the other Titans.

~FTF~

When the former Titans and Future-Nightwing found the current Titans, they were inside a twisted mockery of the East Coast Titans Tower. Even worse, that twisted Titans Tower had been put together by Deathstroke, who'd assembled his own Titans team, of which Inertia and Match were members. The other members were Sun Girl, Batgirl, Joker's Daughter, Enigma, Risk, and Kid Crusader.

Sun Girl was a refugee from the 31st Century, and possessed of pyrokinetic abilities fueled by solar energy. Batgirl was the onetime protégé of Batman, brainwashed into serving Deathstroke by his drugs. Joker's Daughter was a former Titan as well, who had the delusional belief that she was somehow the Joker's daughter.

Enigma was similar to Joker's Daughter, in that she'd styled herself after a Gotham rogue, but didn't believe herself to be his daughter. Risk was also a former Titan, but one who'd gone mad with bitterness over the loss of his arm at the hands of Superboy-Prime. Kid Crusader was some kind of twisted paladin who thought he was cleansing the world of evil by killing Kid Devil.

Inertia and Match spoke for themselves.

"What the hell's the point of this, Slade?" Present-Nightwing asked.

"The point, Grayson?" Deathstroke asked mockingly. "I want my children back."

"They ceased to be yours when you did what you did to them," Future-Nightwing snarled.

"And who might you be?" Deathstroke asked. "Some childish Nightwing imitator?"

Future-Nightwing was about to attack Deathstroke, when Match intercepted him with an extremely powerful blast of heat vision. "_Go near Wonder Girl! Wonder Girl not mine!_" he yelled.

"And, of course, that's Bizarro talk for 'stay away from Wonder Girl, or I'll kill you,'" Beast Boy quipped.

Of course, that had the effect of not quite killing Future-Nightwing, but burning away his costume . . . revealing a black suit with a dark blue wing design and a silver version of Superman's shield in its center. When the heat vision burns were gone, it revealed blond hair in place of his normal black hair.

"Gee, thanks, Match," Future-Nightwing snapped. "You just blew my secret identity! How can I repay you?!"

He flew at Match and delivered a vicious tornado kick that sent him flying outside Titans Tower. Future-Nightwing pressed his advantage, flying after Match to attack him further. Match retaliated with a hammer punch, only for Future-Nightwing to block it and knee him in the stomach. The two fought viciously in midair.

"Wonder Girl not mine! Boy go near her, he live!" Match yelled.

Future-Nightwing just punched him in the mouth. "You talk too much and none of it makes sense. Shut up."

Deathstroke watched the fight in the sky as he held off the veteran Titans and the current Titans. "And this just keeps getting interesting."

"Whatever you're up to, it's over!" Bart Allen declared, just as Inertia came in to fight him.

"Hey, Bart, long time no see," Inertia taunted.

"What are you doing with Deathstroke?" Bart asked.

"He gives me speed, I give him your friends' heads," Inertia replied airily. "You, I get to keep for myself."

Bart gritted his teeth in anger and fought back against Inertia's assault, the two speedsters zipping around the island on which the twisted Titans Tower rested as they clashed. Meanwhile, the other members of Titans East – save defectors Joker's Daughter and Batgirl – fought beside Deathstroke against the veteran and current Titans.

Wonder Girl spotted Future-Nightwing and Match fighting it out in the sky. Future-Nightwing's moves were more fluid and agile, but Match's strikes were a lot more powerful because of the berserker rage he was in. Miss Martian looked up with some concern. "He'll die if we don't help him."

"Then let's help him!" Wonder Girl shouted, zipping into the air to attack Match with Miss Martian.

"Thanks," Future-Nightwing replied.

"You're going to have to explain to us just who you really are when this is over," Wonder Girl said to him.

"Sure thing," Future-Nightwing conceded.

"Wonder Girl not mine! Boy not stay away from her!" Match yelled.

"Is that all you can think about?" Future-Nightwing asked, punching Match again and pressing his advantage for all it was worth. Wonder Girl and Miss Martian followed, attacking Match in tandem with Future-Nightwing. Just then, Match blasted all three of them with heat vision, sending them plummeting to the ground. As they fell, Match pursued.

"Me hate Wonder Girl! Me hate Wonder Girl!" he screamed as he attacked Wonder Girl.

At that moment, Future-Nightwing twisted in midair and launched himself into a literal flying kick aimed at Match. This time, Match blocked Future-Nightwing's kick by grabbing his ankle and slamming him to the ground. "Me like you! You not take Wonder Girl from me!"

Future-Nightwing got up, now incensed beyond restraint. "You . . . are really, _really pissing me OFF!_" he yelled, just before delivering a series of rapid-fire punches and kicks to Match, each strike coming faster and harder than the last. Match tried to defend himself, but the fury behind Future-Nightwing's assault was more than he could take, causing him to actually cough up blood.

That didn't stop Future-Nightwing, though; his vision was a haze of furious red and all he could think about was taking down Match. Finally, he struck Match with a vicious uppercut that sent him flying into the air, then flew up after him and took him down with a series of vicious super-speed bicycle kicks. Match made a sound somewhere between a cough and a gurgle, as blood came out of his mouth.

Future-Nightwing stalked toward him, prepared to end it – when Wonder Girl grabbed him with her lasso. "Stop."

"Why should I?" Future-Nightwing asked.

"Because if you don't, you're going to kill him," Wonder Girl replied. "And if you are who I think you are, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. You're not some monster who kills people while they're helpless, even if they are monsters like Match."

Future-Nightwing breathed softly, as Miss Martian placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Fine. He's down for the count, anyway. Wouldn't feel so good if I just took him out right now."

"Thank you," Miss Martian said.

~FTF~

After seeing Future-Nightwing take down Match as brutally as he had, the rest of Titans East had quickly figured the battle to be over and fled. The Titans had managed to catch most of them, but some remained at large, particularly Joker's Daughter and Batgirl. Robin and the present-day Nightwing were beside themselves, feeling guilty that they hadn't seen something was horribly wrong with Cassandra when she'd disappeared and later shown up leading the League of Assassins.

And the future Nightwing had some explaining to do, such as how he had Kryptonian powers and if he was really blond. Future-Nightwing just looked at the gathered Titans and said, "Yes, I really am blond."

"Just tell me Nightwing didn't do Supergirl," Red Arrow said. "She's cute and all, but she's also jailbait."

"No, Supergirl is and is not my mother," Future-Nightwing replied. "In one way, she is my mother. In another, she is basically my aunt."

"Quit being cryptic and just tell us!" Beast Boy grumbled.

"My mother is . . ." Future-Nightwing smiled. "Power Woman."


	4. To Abide

Note: There you have it. At last, you know who Future-Nightwing's mother is. Now all that's left is for the Titans to figure out just who he really is and what he really wants. Of course, some things are going to change, and possibly for the better. Wanna see how? Read on!

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and all associated characters belong to DC Comics. The future-Nightwing is my and JOUNOUCHI-sama's creation. We make no money whatsoever from this story, nor do we receive other material compensation.

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 4: "To Abide"

~FTF~

"Let me get this straight," Red Arrow commented. "Power Woman is your mother? And wait, why are we calling her Power Woman? I thought she was Power Girl."

"She changed her mind," Future-Nightwing replied.

"Whoa . . . you mean . . . Nightwing married Power Girl?" Beast Boy uttered, somewhere between disbelief and amusement. The nature of that amusement wasn't entirely innocent, judging by the glint in his eyes. "Wow . . ."

"Clean thoughts, Uncle Gar," Future-Nightwing advised merrily, but with cold steel underneath the merriness. "That's my mother you're talking about."

"You don't even exist yet!" Cyborg uttered.

"But I will, Uncle Vic," Future-Nightwing replied. "I will."

"So . . . if you're half-Kryptonian, and you have the same basic powers as one . . ." A thought popped into Ravager's head, and she smirked at him mischievously. "Did you ever use that X-ray vision of yours on any of us gals here?"

"No," Future-Nightwing answered. "Not that I wasn't tempted, but I'm not completely ruled by my hormones." The unspoken tag at the end of that sentence was, "Unlike some people I won't bother to name."

"You were scared we'd kick your ass if you got caught, huh?" Ravager remarked.

"A healthy sense of self-preservation is allowed, you know," Future-Nightwing rejoined. "Doesn't make me a scaredy-cat."

"Could you at least tell us what your real name is?" Red Arrow asked. "I mean, we can't keep calling you Nightwing when we already have a Nightwing."

"Fine," Future-Nightwing answered. "My name is Bruce Kent Grayson."

"Um, what's it like having Power Gir – uh, Woman as your mother?" Beast Boy asked.

"Pretty good, actually," Future-Nightwing replied. "Except I have to put up with her being the subject of boys' locker room conversations because everybody my age seems to be obsessed with her."

"Or her . . ." Beast Boy started to say, but was silenced by a sharp glare from both Nightwings. "Forget I said anything."

"So, um, the thing with you saying your hair was naturally red . . . that was a dodge?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah," Future-Nightwing replied. "Didn't want you guys knowing too much about your own futures. And I thought it'd be fun to mess with you a bit."

"Well, that's funny," Robin remarked dryly. "Because I always thought Nightwing would end up with Oracle."

"And we . . . figured he'd end up with Starfire," Donna added.

"Um, how the hell did Nightwing and Power Girl end up together?" Red Arrow asked. "She's not even his type!"

"And what is my type, Roy?" Nightwing asked with a slight hint of a smirk.

"Redheads," Red Arrow replied. "Pretty much everyone you've actually been in love with has been a redhead."

"What can I say?" Future-Nightwing commented. "People can date against type if there's more keeping them together than just 'she's my type' or 'he's my type.'"

"Good point," Raven admitted, recalling her own brief romance with Beast Boy.

"As much as I'd like to continue this conversation," Nightwing said, "the fact remains is that Deathstroke is still on the loose. He's still got ties to the Society, and – need I remind you – he blew up an entire city on their orders."

"Then what do we do?" Raven asked, while Jericho looked at Nightwing meaningfully.

"I think . . . now's a good time to let go," Nightwing said, looking at Jericho, Raven, and Cyborg. "I can understand that you want to protect the younger Titans, but they've been at this long enough to know what they're doing. I trust them all."

"Even . . ." Cyborg started to say, but Nightwing stared hard into his organic and cybernetic eyes.

"I trust them _all._"

"All right," Cyborg said. "If you trust them, then we trust them. How do you want to do this?"

"We gather our old friends, and we find Deathstroke," Nightwing replied.

~FTF~

After that conversation was over, Bruce Grayson noticed that Ravager had slipped away. Managing to track her down with both the skills taught to him by his father and his innate supersensory powers, he found her sitting on top of Titans Tower, her legs dangling over the edge.

"Hey," he greeted her.

"Hey," she answered tonelessly.

"Anything you wanna talk about?" Bruce asked, moving closer to her.

"No," Ravager replied.

Bruce made a sound somewhere between a snort and a chuckle as he moved to sit beside her, albeit at a respectful distance. "So you're willing to bare your body to me, but not your soul?"

"I don't trust that many people with the contents of my skull," Ravager sniped. "Why do you think you're special, Future Boy?"

"I don't think I'm special," Bruce contradicted. "It's a mask, really. The truth is, I'm in an unfamiliar time, and I'm scared out of my skull. Most of the people I know are younger here than I know them, and some of them haven't even been born yet. It's actually kind of lonely."

Ravager sighed. "Is this the part where I bare my soul to you, because you were brave enough to do the same for me?"

"I was kind of hoping that, yes," Bruce admitted.

Ravager chuckled. "At least you're honest." She scoffed a bit. "Screw it. I'll tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"My father, Deathstroke the Terminator, made me his apprentice. Pumped me full of drugs to make me a perfect killing machine, someone to carry on his work when he finally kicked the bucket. Then I find out he just wanted me as his weapon, and not only that – he never even wanted me as a daughter in the first place. I was an accident, according to him."

"That's harsh."

"Tell me about it. The whole reason he was looking for my brother? Wasn't revenge; it was to replace me with his favorite son! I was nothing to him!"

"And that's why you've been acting like this?" Bruce asked.

"I want someone to want me around," Ravager admitted. "There. I said it. Happy?"

"Happy that you're being honest with yourself," Bruce answered. "But what about the Titans? Don't they want you?"

"Your dad dumped me on them, and it's only because Boy Wonder is his little brother that I'm still on the team," Ravager spat. "If Wonder Bitch and Tin Man had their way, they'd boot me as soon as they could, and Flash – Bart – he's not even talking to me anymore."

"What about Kid Devil and Miss Martian?" Bruce wondered. "They seem to like you."

"Kid Devil's lonely, and Miss Martian's too naïve to know any better about me," Ravager retorted.

"I think . . . they see something that the others don't see," Bruce mused aloud. "And I think, you're a much better person than you give yourself credit for."

"You must be joking," Ravager scoffed.

"I'm serious on this. You're a diamond in the rough. Got your hard edges to be sure, but with a little time and a little care, people would see that you're really, really beautiful."

Ravager flushed slightly. It was the first time a boy had told her outright that she was beautiful. She'd gotten a lot of boys calling her "hot" or "sexy" or "doable," but not a one had actually called her "beautiful." If she were the sentimental type, she'd be crying right then and there. But Rose Wilson didn't cry, so she just settled for punching Bruce in the shoulder.

"You freak."

"Yeah. I guess I am."

~FTF~

Morning came, and the adult Titans had left to embark on their hunt for Deathstroke. This left Robin, Ravager, Wonder Girl, Kid Devil, Miss Martian, and Bruce Grayson to do a recruiting drive to bolster their numbers. As it turned out, there were a lot of people showing up, and half of them were showing up for Ravager. The other half showed up for Robin.

Bruce had changed his costume to something that wouldn't leave him confused for his father or for Superman. This costume was a dark red suit with silver shoulders, silver bands around his wrists and calves, and a silver S-shield on a dark red background. The S-shield was an altered version of Superman's chest symbol, resembling the symbol of his maternal grandfather, the Earth-Two Superman. A silver cape with scalloped edges and red lining completed the ensemble.

One of the potential members, a certain Black Alice, looked at Bruce. "Are you supposed to be the new Superboy or something?"

"No," Bruce replied. "Call me Redwing."

"Well, you've got a lot of red in your outfit, that's for sure," Black Alice commented. "What, it's your favorite color?"

"One of them, anyway," Redwing replied. He smiled briefly when he looked at her. "Another of my favorites is black."

Black Alice chuckled. "A man after my own heart."

Another potential member was Natasha Irons, the niece of Steel and currently an armored hero herself. "Nice suit," Redwing commented.

"Thanks, I redesigned it myself," Natasha replied.

"And it shows," Redwing bantered back.

Robin scowled. "Are you going to flirt with everyone who shows up here?"

"Just the cute ones," Redwing rejoined.

"Cocky guy, huh?" Natasha observed.

Redwing smiled. "I try not to be. Can't help it sometimes."

In the end, the membership of the new Titans consisted of Robin, Ravager, Wonder Girl, Kid Devil, Miss Martian, Blue Beetle, and . . . Supergirl. Yes, that was right. Supergirl was joining the Teen Titans.

"Cousin Kal said it'd be good for me to hang out with kids my age, and . . ." She trailed off when she saw Redwing. "Who are you, and why are you dressed like that?"

"Hi, Aunt Kara," Redwing replied, smiling at her.

"Aunt Kara?" Supergirl repeated, confused.

"I'm from the future," Redwing explained briefly.

"Kal's son?" Kara asked. Redwing shook his head.

"Uh, no . . ." he clarified slowly. "Power Woman's my mother. Or I guess Power Girl in the here and now. Since she's basically you from Earth-Two, that makes you sisters. Kind of. So that makes you an aunt. Congratulations."

". . . Huh," was all Supergirl said. It was certainly not what she expected.

"So what brings you here?" Redwing asked, bringing her back to reality.

"Wonder Girl invited me," Kara replied.

"Yeah, I heard you two were pretty close," Redwing commented.

Supergirl and Wonder Girl gazed skeptically at Redwing. "I meant nothing by it," he said. "Just that you two were good friends."

"Tell you what, since you've decided to be such a smartass," Supergirl said. "You have to fight me and Wonder Girl. If we win, you're our slave for a whole week."

"You can whip me if I misbehave . . ." Redwing sang, bringing up memories in the other Titans' minds of a certain comeback song. Getting slightly more serious, he smirked at the two super-powered blondes. "And if I win?"

"Anything you want," Supergirl replied.

"I want a date with Wonder Girl," Redwing stated. "Those are my terms. And if I lose, I agree to be your slave for the week."

Supergirl and Wonder Girl looked at each other with what Redwing could only presume were mischievous gleams in their eyes. He supposed he couldn't blame them; the prospect of having him as a slave – even if only temporarily – would be quite pleasant for any girl. At least, that was what the giggling whispers that his peers in his time thought he couldn't hear seemed to indicate.

"All right," Wonder Girl said. "Let's go."

Redwing smiled wickedly. "You know, even if I win, princess – and I _will_ win – I'd gladly accept being your sex slave. Just ask."

Wonder Girl blushed, while Supergirl chortled with mischief. "Sounds like he's really into you," she remarked.

"You're incorrigible, you know that?" Wonder Girl said to Redwing.

"Yeah, but you'll love me for it," Redwing rejoined, still smiling.

The other Titans just watched, absolutely befuddled. "Wow . . ." Blue Beetle remarked. "Just who is this guy?"

"Time traveler," Robin replied. "From the future."

"Really?" Blue Beetle asked.

"Really," Robin confirmed dryly.

~FTF~

Redwing, Supergirl, and Wonder Girl stood on top of Titans Tower, psyching themselves for the upcoming spar. "Go easy on me," Redwing joked, taking off his cape. "I'm a quick bruiser."

"Sure we will," Supergirl retorted with a slight smirk.

"Ready?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Yeah," Redwing replied.

Wonder Girl nodded briefly to Supergirl, and then the two girls attacked Redwing at super-speed. Redwing parried and dodged their attacks to the best of his ability, marveling at how well Wonder Girl and Supergirl were keeping up with him. He smiled as he fought them, thinking to himself that this was the most fun he'd had in a while.

Redwing threw himself into a 360-degree spinning kick that started low and moved higher as it went on, sweeping Wonder Girl's legs out from under her and kicking Supergirl in her exposed midriff. Both girls recovered quickly, Wonder Girl landing on her hands and pushing off into a kick while Supergirl twisted onto her feet to attack again. Redwing barely managed to block both of them this time, but this did not faze him at all.

"Wow, you're good at this," Redwing complimented.

"Thanks," Wonder Girl answered. "So are you."

Redwing smiled. "Come."

Supergirl and Wonder Girl went for him again, and this time Redwing was blocking both their attacks with one arm, keeping the other behind his back. He soon realized the folly of this when both girls amplified the speed and force of their assault. Their joint attacks were far too much for him to handle with just one arm, so he brought out the other arm to help out.

Even then, he was not having an easy time of it, as Supergirl and Wonder Girl had the advantage of each other as backup and nearly perfectly synchronized movements. Out of desperation, Redwing used his heat vision to generate a burst of light to momentarily blind Supergirl and Wonder Girl so he could regroup. That turned out to be a stupid idea, as it didn't blind them long enough for him to gain any meaningful advantage.

Plus, Supergirl and Wonder Girl both had heightened senses like him, so they could just use the other senses that hadn't been disabled to keep up with him. Then Redwing realized his mistake; he'd been trying to outfight them when a better idea would have been to outmaneuver him. What the hell had his training under his father and associated members of the "Bat-Family" been for, if not to use it like this against a superior foe?

"Did you know . . ." he asked as he blocked Supergirl's fist. ". . . that Superman marries Wonder Woman in my time?"

"What the hell?" Supergirl and Wonder Girl uttered simultaneously in sheer shock, which distracted them long enough for him to just knock them both down.

"I win," Redwing answered.

Supergirl and Wonder Girl looked at the smiling Redwing in utter befuddlement. "Were you serious, or were you just pulling our chains?"

"Pulling your chains?" Redwing echoed, the smile turning somewhat lascivious. Then he got serious. "Maybe. Maybe not. Can't tell you too much about how these things go. Might change the future, and I'd like to still exist when I get back."

"I guess this means I owe you a date," Wonder Girl surmised.

"Yeah," Redwing replied. "But you still get to reap the benefits. Order me however you like, I will obey."

Wonder Girl smiled mischievously, thinking about the ways she could take advantage of Redwing's statement.

~FTF~

Unbeknownst to Redwing, Supergirl, or Wonder Girl, they were about to get another visitor from Bruce Kent Grayson's time. A crackling warp formed in the air above Metropolis, and a black-haired boy dressed in black, red, and gold tumbled out of it. The warp closed behind him with a lightning-like flash and a thunderous crack.

The boy steadied himself in midair, blinking briefly to look at the city below him. His costume was black, with a fiery golden birdlike symbol emblazoned across his chest and back and down his arms. While the symbol was gold on both the chest and black, it gradually deepened to a reddish color as the "wings" expanded over his arms. His forearms and the tips of his middle and ring fingers were the deepest red. All in all, his symbol resembled a sunset.

This was Jonathan Kent II, known to the people of the future as the Flamebird to Bruce Kent Grayson's Nightwing. Right now, though, he had a cousin to track down and bring back home. Then again, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be an easy task, given that his own time-crossing device had been damaged in the backward trip.

Steeling himself for the task ahead, Flamebird flew in the direction of San Francisco, a fiery trail behind him.


	5. To Encounter

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and the rest of the DC heroes and villains, aside from original characters devised by myself and JOUNOUCHI-sama, belong to DC Comics and Warner Brothers, not us. We make no money or other profit whatsoever from this story, only the satisfaction of knowing this story's at least being read keeps us going.

Note: Sorry I've been away for so long, been a little low on energy when it comes to this story. But never mind that now, I'm back and I'm ready to do some more chapters for this story. Darkwinter999, your concerns have been well-noted and I will try my best to make Nightwing/Redwing a little less Stu-ish.

In the meantime, if you readers remember correctly, Redwing's cousin just came in at the end of the last chapter I posted. Whoever this guy is, will he be a new ally to the Titans like Redwing . . . or a wildcard that might be more trouble than necessary? Then again, that question hasn't been quite answered when it comes to Redwing, either, so the possibility does certainly exist. . . . Red herrings aside, though, let's rock!

~FTF~

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 5: "To Encounter"

~FTF~

In Smallville, Jonathan and Martha Kent were just going about their day like normal when they saw a fiery blur in the sky. At first thinking it might have been Clark, they weren't all that worried. Then that blur crashed down on the ground – and they could clearly see that it wasn't Clark. The boy there looked somewhat like Clark, but his costume was largely black with a winged symbol colored red-and-gold like a sunset.

Jonathan came out first, keeping his shotgun ready to defend himself with in case the strange boy turned out to be hostile. "Who are you?"

"Hey, Grandpa," the boy greeted him, looking completely unsurprised and holding his hands up in surrender.

"Who are you?" Jonathan repeated.

"Flamebird," the boy replied. "Or would the name Jonathan Kent II be better?"

"Jonathan Kent II?" Jonathan repeated. "What are you talking about?"

Flamebird lowered his hands but kept them visible. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just got hungry and I figured to come here. Don't exactly have any money on me right now." He sighed.

"Really? Where'd you come from?" Jonathan asked.

"The future," Flamebird replied. "Anyway, is it ok if I come in? I'm starving, and Grandma Martha's apple pie sounds good . . ."

Martha smiled. "Let him in."

"You sure?" Jonathan asked, catching a nod from Martha.

"I'm sure," Martha confirmed.

Jonathan chuckled a bit. "Might as well. Who else would know about the pie but family?"

"Thanks," Flamebird said, sighing with relief. After being let inside the Kent residence, he was escorted to a seat in the dining room while Martha cooked up something for him to eat.

"So, who are you, exactly?" Jonathan asked.

"Well, I'm from the future, and I'm Clark's son," Flamebird replied. "He named me after you."

"Hmm, who's your mother?" Jonathan inquired.

"You'd probably call her Wonder Woman," Flamebird answered.

Jonathan arched his eyebrow with interest. "Really? Clark and Diana . . . together?"

"Yeah," Flamebird admitted. His tone grew somber. "Kinda hard to have kids with a dead woman."

Jonathan's amused expression faded into a saddened look. "I'm sorry to hear that. Even if she wasn't the first person I would have thought suitable for Clark . . . I still wouldn't wish that . . ."

"Are you going to tell Clark?" Martha asked.

"I'm not sure," Flamebird admitted. "On the one hand, my dad deserves to have every last bit of happiness he can get with Lois while she's still here. On the other . . . I'm kind of scared for my own existence. I mean, if my dad and mom never get together . . . I might never be born."

"I understand that," Jonathan said. "But I'm sure Clark taught you this, too, just as we taught him – sometimes, the life of an innocent person is worth more than what you want for yourself."

Flamebird smiled softly. "How did I know you were going to say that?"

"Maybe because I lived long enough to see you as an adorable little tyke?" Jonathan quipped.

Flamebird chuckled. "Thanks." He inhaled through his nose. "That pie smells so good."

"I guess that means she's ready," Jonathan remarked. "Now come on, let's eat, and maybe you can tell us if you have any brothers or sisters."

~FTF~

Back at Titans Tower in San Francisco, Bruce Grayson was getting himself ready for his date with Wonder Girl. He had properly applied the right amount of cologne, dressed in the finest suit he could afford, brushed, combed, and gelled his hair, and he even had a bouquet of Cassie's favorite flowers. There was just one more thing he needed, of course.

_Goddess Aphrodite, please guide my hand and my lips so that I can be the proper gentleman on my date with Cassie,_ he thought.

"Well, that's interesting," a female voice remarked. "Never thought I'd hear a man pray to me."

"I'm not most guys," Bruce answered, turning to see Aphrodite, the Olympian goddess of love, in all her sensual, voluptuous finery in front of him.

"I can see that," Aphrodite commented.

"So, what brings you here?" Bruce asked.

"Your prayer," Aphrodite replied. "Plus, I find it interesting that I have a worshipper outside Themyscira. And if Diana isn't going to have that much of a love life, I can certainly watch out for her little sisters."

Bruce smiled softly. "Thanks. I . . . want to make sure Cassie has a great time with me. That's why I asked your help."

"Look at it this way; you'll never go wrong with me on your side," Aphrodite said. "Just stay on Cassie's good side, and we're – how shall I put this – golden."

"Thanks," Bruce repeated. He smiled softly. Just then, he heard a knock on the door. He turned to see if Aphrodite was still there, only to find she'd disappeared. Figuring it was Cassie, he answered the door, finding her standing on the other side in a red blouse and black knee-length skirt with nearly sheer stockings and fashionable black boots. "Hi. You look great."

"So do you, Bruce," Cassie replied.

Bruce retrieved the bouquet and gave it to her. "These are for you."

"Thanks," Cassie said. She placed the flowers close to her nose and inhaled through it. "They smell great. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Bruce replied. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Cassie answered. "Just let me put these away."

Once the flowers were taken care of, Bruce and Cassie exited Titans Tower, standing on the island surrounding it. "Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"Have you ever had dinner in Paris?" Bruce asked.

"Not like this, no," Cassie replied.

Bruce smiled. "You're going to love this. I guarantee it." Linking her hand with his, they flew into the sky at high speed, Bruce leading her toward Paris. He'd been scouting the world in his spare time, looking for good places to eat. Besides, it was easier to pass for just another young couple in love _outside_ the places where they were known so well in their superhero identities.

~FTF~

After once again experiencing Ma Kent's apple pie, Flamebird thanked the Kents and resumed his path to Titans Tower. Ma Kent had given him a special present, though, something she felt a dearly departed member of the family would want him to have.

Once he got into the city, he found himself in a fight with the Brotherhood of Evil. Frankly, he had no idea what they were up to, but it was probably something thoroughly depraved. Thus, it was his duty, he believed, to stop them.

Goldilocks attempted to grab Flamebird with her hair. "Not exactly the best idea you've had, little lady," Flamebird commented, and a quick surgical blast of heat vision cut him free, much to her pain as her hair burned.

"You big creep!" she yelled. "I'm gonna make you pay for that!"

"You can do that," Flamebird answered unconcernedly, just before tying her up with a length of cable. Plasmus came after Flamebird, but Flamebird dodged him and used his arctic breath to freeze him in place. "That should cool you down for a while. Who's next?"

Warp teleported all around Flamebird, attacking him from different angles in an attempt to get the better of him. "Even _you're_ not fast enough to catch me!" he taunted.

"Wanna bet?" Flamebird asked, shooting some heat vision into one of Warp's portals. Just as Warp was about to attack him again, the blast of heat vision came out of another portal and struck him in the side.

"How . . . ?"

"You're predictable, that's how."

At that moment, multiple tentacle-like spears came at Flamebird, who barely managed to dodge. "Whoever you are, pretty boy, you're not going to last long here," Gemini taunted him.

"Really?" Flamebird asked. "Because it looks like I beat the crap out of all your friends."

Gemini responded to that remark with a brutal whip-punch that caught Flamebird by surprise with its speed and force. "Not so cocky now, are you?"

"Wow, you can really hit," Flamebird remarked. "Gonna be a real shame, doing this to a lovely lady like you."

"Why, thank you," Gemini preened. "But flattery won't save you."

"No, but it gives me enough time to do this!" Flamebird retorted, literally turning up the heat to essentially sunstroke Gemini into submission. "Hmm, you don't look so hot . . ."

"Who are you?" Robin asked.

"Hi!" Flamebird greeted. "You must be the Teen Titans! Nice to meet you guys!"

"You didn't answer the question, smart guy," Robin insisted. "Who are you?"

"Flamebird."

"Flamebird? I thought Flamebird was a girl," Ravager remarked.

"Well, she wasn't using the name by the time I got to it," Flamebird said. "Is there a problem?"

"Depends," Supergirl answered.

"On what?" Flamebird asked.

"On whether or not you're trustworthy," Robin replied.

"You just saw me beat up the Brotherhood of Evil!" Flamebird shouted. "How am I not trustworthy?"

"Plenty of other people who want to beat up the Brotherhood of Evil," Robin observed. "Doesn't make them all trustworthy. We should know."

"Oh . . . you mean that creep Caulder," Flamebird surmised. "Well, I'm not with him, I don't want to be with him, and I'm entirely on the side of the good guys."

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked.

"I'm looking for my cousin Nightwing," Flamebird explained. "We're from the future, and we were chasing down this time-jumping crook when something went wrong and we got spat out in different time periods. I was wondering if you could help me find him."

Robin looked at Flamebird. "We know what you're talking about."

"You mean you've seen him?" Flamebird asked.

"Yeah, something along those lines," Kid Devil replied. "He actually slept in our Tower."

"So he's one of you guys?" Flamebird asked.

"At least until he is able to return to his own time," Miss Martian answered. "He is a very . . . interesting person."

Flamebird smiled. "I know."

"So you're here looking for him?" Ravager asked.

"Yeah," Flamebird affirmed.

"He's out on a date with Wonder Girl," Supergirl mentioned. "They're in Paris right now."

Flamebird chuckled. "Nightwing always did know how to impress girls."

"You wanna wait for him?" Robin asked.

"Might as well," Flamebird replied. "Not like I got anywhere to stay right now."

"You may stay with us!" Miss Martian declared. When the other Titans looked at her oddly, she just smiled. "I can tell when someone is telling the truth. He is telling the truth."

"All right," Robin said. "But don't think we won't be watching you."

"Aye-aye, captain," Flamebird replied with a mock salute.

Robin resisted the urge to groan in irritation. _I can see it runs in the family._

~FTF~

The date with Cassie had been quite pleasant, Bruce reflected quietly. After finishing dinner at a restaurant he'd enjoyed taking past girlfriends to – or technically _future_ girlfriends, given his particular origins – they'd gone to see the sights of Paris. The Bastille had been one of them, and Cassie let out an involuntary shiver as they toured the place.

"Something wrong?" Bruce asked.

"Just some bad auras," Cassie replied.

"From all the bad karma built up in this place?" Bruce surmised. "I get that."

"Yeah," Cassie concurred.

"Wasn't your mother an archaeologist or something like that?"

"Yeah, she is. She'd have loved seeing this place, although she was more interested in stuff even older than this."

"She's an interesting woman," Bruce remarked offhandedly.

Cassie arched her eyebrow with interest. "You sound like you've already met her."

"Let's just say we know each other well back in my time," Bruce replied somewhat cryptically.

"Why do I get the feeling there's more to this than you're telling me?" Cassie asked.

"Because there is," Bruce answered. "I'm just trying not to completely warp the timeline." His cocky demeanor vanished as he remembered a stack of newspapers they'd passed back at the restaurant. Specifically, the date was now prodding his brain like a jackhammer. "Oh, crap."

"What's wrong?" Cassie asked.

"We'd better get to Central City fast," Bruce replied, all levity gone from his voice. "_Very_ fast."

"What's going on, Bruce?" Cassie questioned him.

"Today's the day another Flash dies," Bruce stated grimly. "Unless we stop it." He immediately sped out of the Bastille, quick-changing into his Redwing costume with Cassie following him, changing into her Wonder Girl costume.

~FTF~

He had to stop them. Stop Inertia's machine, stop the Rogues, and somehow save the city from being completely obliterated in the process of his twin's scheme. How he was going to do that without his link to the Speed Force . . . was something he didn't quite know, but he owed it to the people he loved to try.

Steely resolution settling within his golden eyes, Bart Allen, alias the Flash, ran toward the machine, even as the Rogues moved to intercept him. With reflexes honed from years of training by Max Mercury, by Jay Garrick, by training sessions in Young Justice and Teen Titans, he dodged or deflected the Rogues' assaults. Using moves he'd learned from the police academy and from Robin, he fought off the Rogues that were trying to stop him.

Unfortunately, the Rogues wouldn't give up, either, which made it rather difficult for Bart to get to the machine. Just as they aimed their weapons at him, ready to just shoot him down, something zipped in front of them and disarmed them, with a little bit of extra injury thrown in.

"What the hell?!" Mirror Master shouted.

"Nope, not quite," a voice remarked.

Bart looked curiously at his savior, realizing that the costume was different even if the voice sounded like a very recent acquaintance. "Nightwing?"

"Redwing now," the young man replied. "Someone's already using Nightwing, and he does a better job of it than I do."

Meanwhile, Wonder Girl had caught Inertia in her lasso and shocked him, channeling all her anger from the thought that Bart Allen would have died because of him into the lasso. With Inertia and the Rogues downed for the moment, Bart picked up Heat Wave's flamethrower and used it on the machine that trapped the Speed Force, freeing the lightning from its cage.

"Hey, Bart," Wonder Girl greeted him. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah," Bart said. "Thanks a bunch. How'd you know I was in trouble?"

"Thank Redwing," Wonder Girl replied. "He already knew how this day was going to go for you, since he's from the future and all."

"Yeah," Redwing confirmed. "I didn't think Robin and Wonder Girl needed any more dead friends."

"Thanks," Bart said.

Just then, Valerie Perez, Bart's girlfriend and an intern at S.T.A.R. Labs, came over along with Iris West-Allen. "I didn't see this coming," Iris remarked, looking at Redwing curiously. "And _you,_ I don't think I've ever seen before. But . . ." She looked at him with gratitude. "I owe you my grandson's life."

"Let's just say my future isn't as good as it could be," Redwing answered. "Bart being there could make it better. That's why I came here."

Valerie hugged Bart tightly, who pulled off his mask so he could look at her with his uncovered eyes. "Bart?" she asked.

"I think . . . I love you, Val," he answered quietly, as though he wasn't sure how she'd react.

Valerie hugged him even tighter, and he returned her embrace.

"Hey, Bart!" Redwing called out. "Visit Titans Tower sometime! Everybody misses you, man."

Bart smiled at Redwing. "Thanks. I'll do that."

"And Rose will be happy to see you, too!" Redwing added, prompting Wonder Girl to jab him in the side with her elbow. "What?" Wonder Girl just looked at him like he was some kind of maniac or moron, to which Redwing answered with a charming smile.

"Who's Rose?" Valerie asked.

"Old friend of mine," Bart replied. "We were Titans together, once."

~FTF~

When Redwing and Wonder Girl returned to Titans Tower from their date and from saving Bart Allen from certain death, they found a surprise waiting for them. "Hey, Bruce," a voice familiar to Redwing greeted him. "Nice to see you. And you're already macking, huh? Just your style."

"Flamebird?" Redwing asked, seeing his cousin waiting for him.

"You know him?" Wonder Girl asked.

"He's my cousin," Redwing replied. "We're crime-fighting partners. And apparently he's followed me to take me back to our time."

"Not just yet," Flamebird amended. "My machine was damaged, too. Looks like we're both stuck here for a while."

"We've been getting to know him," Ravager added, smirking. "And _you . . ._ we had no idea you were so interesting."

"What have you been telling them?" Redwing asked.

"Oh, not much," Flamebird replied. "Just that you're really fond of Aunt Kara's daughter's cat. Like, so fond you tried to kidnap her back when you guys were little."

"That was a long time ago!" Redwing protested.

"Yeah, but she still remembers," Flamebird rejoined, grinning at Redwing's distress.

"You guys act more like brothers than cousins," Kid Devil observed.

"Well, I guess I know to keep you away from my daughter when I have one," Supergirl commented with a grin.

Redwing sighed. "I really miss the days when I was the cool, mysterious guy from the future to you all."

"You're not as cool as you like to think you are," Flamebird said. "You want cool? I'm a Prince of Themyscira."

"Wait, how's that even possible?" Blue Beetle asked. "I thought all the Amazons were women!"

"They are," Flamebird affirmed. "My mother is Wonder Woman."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Wonder Girl uttered in sheer disbelief, and the other Titans looked puzzled, too. "_Diana_ is your mother?"

"Yeah," Flamebird admitted.

"So who's the lucky guy?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Superman," Flamebird answered.

"Well . . . I guess it was going to happen, sooner or later," Robin mused.

"I thought they were together already and just keeping it on the down-low for the public," Ravager brought up.

"That's what _you_ think," Robin mumbled.

"Something you're not telling us, Boy Wonder?" Ravager asked sarcastically.

Robin decided it was a good idea to keep his mouth shut, lest he let something slip that would compromise Clark's identity. It wasn't something that needed to be known by everyone, after all.

"I think things will be very interesting around here," Miss Martian observed.

"Tell me about it," Kid Devil commented.

"You guys are just full of surprises, aren't you?" Supergirl remarked.

"We are," Redwing admitted with a smile, nudging Flamebird with his elbow. Flamebird just punched him lightly in the shoulder.


	6. To Twist

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and the shared universe it inhabits belong to DC Comics and DC Entertainment. We only own the characters of Bruce Kent Grayson/Redwing and Jonathan Kent II/Flamebird. We make no money from this story and only write this story for fun.

Note: As you can tell from the last few chapters, things are going to be quite different from DCU canon as of the point we began this story. For example, Bart's not going to be dead, but Wally's gonna be coming back soon, and Inertia's fate might very well be different from what befell him after Bart's death. How different? Well, just read on and find out.

~FTF~

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 6: "To Twist"

~FTF~

Thaddeus Thawne, alias Inertia, was on the run. Sure, he finally had the Speed Force back, but the Rogues were not happy with what he'd nearly tricked them into doing to his doppelganger. In fact, they were so unhappy that they had vowed to kill him the next time they saw him, and were even hunting him down for it. Thus, he was on the run.

"_Inertia . . ."_ a ghostly voice called.

"Who's there?" Inertia asked, not in the mood to play around.

"_Think of me as your guardian angel,"_ the voice replied, coming in clearer now. Lightning crashed in front of Inertia and he could make out the figure of a man dressed in skintight red with a golden lightning bolt on his chest and a band of golden lightning acting as a belt.

Inertia growled, recognizing the man by his costume. "The Flash . . ."

"_Try your grandfather,"_ the Flash amended. _"From the other side of your family."_

"The Allens aren't my family!" Inertia yelled. "They're my enemy!"

"_Only because the senior Thaddeus Thawne has lied to you, used you, manipulated you,"_ the Flash, Barry Allen, answered. _"You weren't happy with the Thawnes, were you? They treated you more like a weapon than a son, didn't they?"_

"What does it matter?!" Inertia asked angrily. "You're my enemy! Why act so kind to me?!"

"_You don't believe you deserve someone being nice to you?"_ Barry asked rhetorically. _"You're family, Thad . . . just like Bart."_

"Don't speak his name!" Inertia snapped.

"_You envy him, don't you?"_ Barry observed. _"He had everything you ever wanted – friends, family, people that loved him and treated him like a person. And that was why you wanted to kill him, more than just him being an Allen, part of the family they taught you to hate."_

Inertia glared at the apparition of Barry Allen. "Shut up! You don't know anything!"

"_I know enough,"_ Barry answered, coming closer to Inertia. _"I know just enough to see that you're not a monster, not a killer – just a lonely kid who could use a friend."_ He extended a hand to Inertia. _"How about it? Ready to let go?"_

Inertia looked at the red-gloved hand suspiciously. "Why should I trust you?"

"_Do you have anyone else to trust?"_ Barry asked sadly. _"Look at where you're going. You're going to end up dead or worse if you go on like this. What do you think will happen if the Rogues catch up with you, or if Wally finds you, after what you tried to do to Bart? It's not a good way to end things, Thad."_

"Don't talk to me like you know me!" Inertia snapped.

"_I know you a lot better than you think,"_ Barry answered. _"And I know you enough to know that you deserve better than this. Much, much better, and if you're willing to let go of the hate, let go of the lies, you can have it. What do you say?"_

~FTF~

"Morning, sleepyhead," Rose greeted Redwing as he came down for breakfast. "Did you and Wonder Girl have fun last night?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Redwing answered.

Rose laughed. "Sorry! But you just sounded so serious and honest when you said that that I _had_ to laugh!"

"Ha, ha, ha," Redwing drawled. "Very funny. Now remind me why I like you so much again?"

"You're drawn to my unconventional sexiness," Rose replied saucily.

"Wow, I knew you were a homewrecker, but I didn't know you were that bad," Cassie commented, also coming down for breakfast.

"I see you forgot to primp before coming down," Rose remarked. "I guess sex makes you that hungry, huh?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Rose," Cassie grumped. "I don't want my breakfast spoiled by your idea of comedy."

"Who said I was joking?" Rose asked.

"Now, now, girls, settle down," Redwing said. "No need to ruin a good breakfast by bickering."

"Is this the trouble you've been causing here?" Flamebird asked incredulously.

"I don't cause trouble," Redwing replied. "Trouble finds me."

"Only after you jumped into it headfirst," Flamebird retorted.

Redwing chuckled softly. "You got me there. You got me there."

"Is it always like this between you two?" Blue Beetle asked.

"Yeah," Flamebird replied. "It's my job to knock him off his pedestal."

"Job? More like a hobby," Redwing jibed.

"Whatever," Flamebird said.

"Are you sure you guys are cousins?" Robin asked. "Because the two of you bicker more like brothers."

"We were raised together," Redwing answered simply.

Robin pondered. "It makes sense. Superman's always been like Nightwing's cool uncle, and since Power Girl is Superman's cousin from an alternate universe – yeah, I get how you guys would be raised together."

"Sounds like an awesome family," Blue Beetle remarked. "I mean, you've got Superman, Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Nightwing, Batman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Robin . . . wow!"

"And you mentioned me last why, exactly?" Robin asked.

"Best for last," Blue Beetle replied simply. "Right?"

"Speaking of that . . ." Supergirl looked at Flamebird. "Are you serious about Wonder Woman being your mother?"

"I'd lie about a lot of things, but who my mother is isn't one of them," Flamebird replied.

"Mama's boy," Rose commented snidely.

Flamebird took it upon himself to do a Mr. T impression. "Of course I am! I pity the fool that ain't one!"

"Nice Mr. T impression there," Blue Beetle drawled.

"Yeah," Kid Devil agreed sardonically. "I could really feel his spirit in here."

Rose chuckled. "Smooth, Flamer. Real smooth."

"It's Flamebird."

"Yeah, I know, but I like messing with you. Boys like you are so fun."

Flamebird blushed, which caused Redwing to clear his throat and aim a warning stare at Rose, which Rose answered with an unrepentant smirk. Cassie rolled her eyes in mild annoyance. "Are you just going to flirt with anything that has a pulse?" she asked.

"No," Rose replied. "Are you just going to be such a bore?"

Redwing cleared his throat again. "No need to fight, everyone."

"Besides, whatever Bruce and Cassie did up there last night – it's their business," Robin added stoically. "No need to get involved."

"Are you kidding me?" Supergirl asked incredulously. "This is the _fun_ part!"

Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can we please just eat breakfast?"

"Ok, no-fun boy!" Rose replied cheerily.

Thus, breakfast was finally allowed to commence, not that the chatter stopped so easily. Part of it was Redwing's gift of gab. Part of it was Rose being a phenomenal tease. Part of it was the others being so incredibly easy to mess with, including Robin. Actually, "especially" would have been a better word, given how hard Robin tried to act unaffected by the chatter.

~FTF~

After breakfast was over, the Titans got a call from Wally West, the third Flash. "Wally?! You're back!" Robin shouted.

"Yeah, I am," Wally confirmed. "It's a long story where I've been, but do you mind sending up your recent recruits to the Watchtower?"

"You mean Redwing and Flamebird?" Robin asked, reverting to his usual stoicism.

"Yeah, those two," Wally replied. "The League would like to get a better look at them, figure out if they're for real."

"For real? Us?" Redwing asked, popping up over Robin's shoulder.

"Yeah," Wally stated. "I got word from Nightwing and Cyborg about you claiming to be Nightwing's son from the future. Not sure I buy that entirely, and a lot of the League isn't sure what to think one way or the other, so you gotta come up."

"DNA scan from Green Lantern?" Redwing asked.

"Something like that," Wally answered. "Although I hear you saved Bart's life, so whoever you are, thanks."

"You're welcome," Redwing responded. "We'll be there. Just send us the coordinates. You guys will move in my time."

"Sure . . ." Wally drawled. "I'm sending them to you now."

"Thanks," Redwing answered.

"You two behave yourselves while you're up there," Robin instructed.

"I'll behave," Flamebird said. "It's Bruce here I'm not that sure of."

"I'm not going to flirt with Wonder Woman," Redwing said. "She's like a mother to me."

"A really hot one," Ravager commented with a sly smirk.

Wonder Girl glared at Ravager, who simply stuck her tongue out at her. "She does have a point," Redwing admitted. His next words broke up the silent argument. "But Wonder Woman doesn't turn my crank. You do, Cassie."

"How sweet . . ." Ravager purred, trying to be sarcastic.

Wonder Girl didn't even have time to blush before Redwing gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "I'll be back."

~FTF~

In the Justice League's Watchtower, Redwing and Flamebird were carefully observed. Of course, it didn't help matters much that Flamebird had changed into the set of Conner's clothes that Ma Kent had given him. Specifically, he was wearing Conner's black S-shield T-shirt and jeans with a leather jacket over it.

"Who gave you those clothes?" Superman asked.

"Grandma Kent," Flamebird replied.

"_Grandma_ Kent?" Superman repeated incredulously. He looked at Green Lantern.

"On it," Green Lantern said. "Ring, DNA scan now."

The ring cooperated, and came back with the results quickly enough. _"DNA scan completed. 50 percent Kryptonian, 50 percent Amazon. Kryptonian percentage is a match to Kal-El, alias Superman. Amazon percentage is a match to Princess Diana, alias Wonder Woman."_

"That . . . complicates things a lot," Superman admitted.

"So what happened, Supes?" Green Lantern asked sardonically. "You and Wonder Woman have a night of passion you never told us about?"

"Nothing of the sort happened, Hal," Wonder Woman replied. "Obviously, this boy is from a future time or world."

"Yeah," Flamebird confirmed. "That's about it."

"What happened to . . . ?" Superman started to ask, only to catch a sad look from Flamebird, which was all the answer he needed. He then shifted his train of thought to another question. "Why are you wearing Conner's clothes?"

"I want to honor his name while I'm here," Flamebird replied. "I want to be a symbol of inspiration the way he was. Most of all, I just don't want him to go unremembered."

Superman couldn't detect any hint of insincerity in Flamebird's voice, which had as much to do with his skills as a reporter when he was Clark Kent as it did with his super-powers. "All right, then."

"What about him?" Black Canary asked, gesturing at Redwing.

"What about me?" Redwing asked with a winning smile aimed in the fishnet-clad woman's direction.

"Who are you?" Black Canary inquired.

"Well, I would be Nightwing, except my dad is using that name here and I don't want to step on his toes," Redwing answered. "Call me Redwing."

"So who's your mother?" Black Canary asked.

"Power Girl," Redwing replied. "Except she's Power Woman when I'm from."

Green Lantern did another DNA scan, which also finished quickly. _"DNA scan completed. 50 percent Kryptonian, 50 percent human. Kryptonian percentage is matched to Kara Zor-L, alias Karen Starr, alias Power Girl. Human percentage is matched to Richard John Grayson, alias Nightwing."_

"All right, why are you here?" Black Canary asked.

"We were chasing down a fugitive who attempted to use experimental temporal-spatial technology to escape from us," Redwing replied. "He is now lost somewhere in time, and so are we. For all we know, he's either way in the past or way in the future, or nowhere or no time in particular."

"Maybe he ended up in the dinosaur age and got eaten," Flamebird cracked.

Superman gave Flamebird a stern glance, which made Flamebird quite embarrassed. "Sorry," he said. "You never liked those kinds of jokes back in my time, either."

"Well, this is kind of awkward," Redwing remarked.

"Why's that?" Black Canary asked.

Redwing chuckled slightly. "I see where Olivia inherited her looks."

"Olivia?" Black Canary repeated.

"Yeah," Redwing confirmed. "You'll see her soon enough."

"I'm guessing you and Ollie have a kid where those two are from," Green Lantern remarked.

"And I see this kid's spent a little too much time hanging around you," Black Canary jibed.

"Don't blame him," Redwing said. "He was merely doing his duty as an uncle to show me all the cool stuff my dad wouldn't let me touch."

Black Canary and Superman shook their heads in bemusement. "I just hope it wasn't anything someone your age had no business seeing," Superman commented.

"What do you take me for?" Green Lantern asked in mock anger. "I can be responsible, too, you know. Doesn't mean I can't have fun with it, right?"

"Don't worry," Redwing assured the two heroes. "Uncle Hal's cool, but not that cool."

Black Canary chuckled amusedly at seeing Green Lantern's reaction. "He's got you there."

"Where's Batman?" Flamebird asked.

"On duty in Gotham," Superman replied. "He'll be back soon, though, and he wants to see you two up close himself."

"Figures he would," Redwing remarked. "Good old Grandpa."

"Grandpa?" Superman repeated, somewhat nonplussed.

"Yeah," Redwing confirmed with a slight smirk.

~FTF~

That night, Redwing had completed his list of teenage heroes that could replace him as a Titan. Flamebird, now known as the new Superboy much to the tolerance of Robin and Wonder Girl, had elected to stay, wanting to hang out with the Titans longer. For his part, Redwing was fine with that, given that Flamebird was much more of a social butterfly than he was, regardless of his own luck with women.

"What's going on?" Wonder Girl asked him.

"I've got a world to see," Redwing replied. "And hopefully fix."

"What makes you say that?" Wonder Girl inquired.

"My future isn't as bright as I might have made it sound," Redwing admitted. "There are plenty of things that could have been better, ways everyone could have been happier if they'd occurred differently. I want . . . I want to make it right, for everyone. That's why I'm going."

"Are you sure about this?" Wonder Girl asked.

"I'm sure," Redwing replied.

"Then I have one question."

"What's that?"

Wonder Girl looked him in the eyes. "Will you take me with you?"

"I wish I could," Redwing answered sadly. "But the team needs you a lot more than it does me, especially Robin. I've been watching him. He needs an anchor, someone that can keep him on the straight and narrow. That's you. He won't admit it, but he needs someone to be there for him, someone who knows him in ways the others don't."

Wonder Girl hugged him. "You're a nicer guy than I thought."

"I try." Redwing sighed, and smiled at Wonder Girl. "One more for the road?"

"One more for the road," Wonder Girl echoed, and kissed him. "Good luck, Bruce."

"I'll be back," Redwing promised before turning to leave. As he was on his way out, he spotted Rose coming toward him, wearing a pair of leather pants and a leather jacket over a white tube top. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Rose replied with an affectionate smirk. "Besides, someone has to hold your hand."

Redwing chuckled. "Yeah, sure."

~FTF~

"Is this it?" a woman in Grecian armor asked. "Is this where they're holding our Princess?"

"Yes," another woman in Grecian armor, hers being more ornate, replied. "That's where they're keeping Diana."

"So this is what it's come to," a third woman, this one with red hair tied back in a very long ponytail, murmured. "This mission to bring peace to the world of men was futile from the beginning."

"Watch your tongue, Artemis," the ornately armored woman warned. "Diana's mission will not be for naught. _Our mission_ will not be for naught."

"Then how do you explain this, Your Majesty?" Artemis asked angrily. "How do you explain Man's World turning against her like this?"

"Something has happened," Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons replied. "What it is, I do not know, but we will find out, and we will save Diana. However we have to."


	7. To Remember

Disclaimer: JOUNOUCHI-sama and I do not own the Teen Titans; they are the property of DC Comics, DC Entertainment, and Warner Brothers. The only things we own in this story are the characters of Bruce Kent Grayson and Jonathan Kent II, the Nightwing and Flamebird of the future. Furthermore, we make no profit from this story, nor do we gain other material compensation for writing it.

Note: We're back and we'll kick off our version of "Amazons Attack," which will be vastly superior to the piece of crap that was canon's version. Before we do that, though, we have to pay tribute to Lian Harper, who was brutally killed off in JLA: Cry for Justice #7. There was no justice in that decision and we are sincerely appalled, for there are many of us who adored that little girl. This chapter is dedicated in her memory, and the hope that a resurrection will be due in short order. Now, let's begin.

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 7: "To Remember"

~FTF~

No sooner had Bruce and Rose gotten to the local airport than they saw something on the airport TV. It was the title card beneath the visual that got their attention: _"Washington, D.C. Under Attack."_

"Well, that's just . . ." Bruce muttered. Then he heard something that outraged him. "They can't do that!"

"Wow, I knew government guys could be assholes, but I didn't think they'd go that far," Rose agreed.

The subject of their exchange was the report that various Themysciran shelters for abuse victims had been raided on military order. The justification had been suspicion that someone there might have leaked the news about Wonder Woman's imprisonment to the Amazons currently raiding the nation's capitol. Of course, they hadn't stopped there; the people staying and working there had also been detained for the sake of "national security." Specifically, there was a suspicion on the part of the Department of Metahuman Affairs that the shelters were "indoctrination centers."

Bruce shook his head woefully. This was _exactly_ the kind of thing that he'd wanted to stop in the first place, the start of this insane death course that his future was on. Just then, he turned to Rose, letting a small smile make its way to his face. "Don't worry. My brother's got it handled, and there's too much at stake for things to just go completely off the rails."

"You're just saying that to try to make me feel better," Rose remarked.

"I have to believe in them," Bruce admitted. "Because there are things we have to do right now."

~FTF~

On the plane, Rose looked at Bruce out of the corner of her good eye. "So . . . you said you dated Red Arrow's girl back in your time, right?"

"Yeah, we dated," Bruce confessed.

"I used to babysit for her, before I moved in with the Madisons and then . . ." Rose trailed off, then caught herself. "I wonder how she grew up."

"Like you wouldn't believe," Bruce replied. "Or maybe you would . . ."

"I've got time," Rose said. "So spill, future-boy."

"Sure thing," Bruce replied as he collected his memories.

~FTF~

_I was a small boy of six, and she'd just turned fourteen. I didn't know much about Lian, except that she was bigger than me and while I was stronger and faster, she had better reach than I did. That, and I felt funny whenever I was around her._

"_Will you get back here?" she asked._

"_No!" I replied defiantly, sticking my tongue out at her from my perch on the ceiling. I had plastered myself to the ceiling, using my power of flight to do so._

"_Bruce . . . you can either come down, or I can shoot you down," Lian threatened sweetly._

"_What are you gonna shoot me with?" I taunted her._

_That was a bad idea in retrospect, as Lian came back with a trick arrow and shot it at me. I darted out of the way, only for the arrowhead to burst into some kind of glue that trapped my left arm and leg against the ceiling. Worse, it was hardening and it was already quite sticky._

"_Be careful what you say next time," Lian chided me._

_Surprisingly enough, the first thought in my mind was, "When I get big enough, I'm gonna marry her!"_

~FTF~

Rose snickered. "Wow, you were cruising for a wife already?"

"What can I say?" Bruce asked. "I have strange tastes in women, or at least that's what my dad used to say."

"So what happened next?" Rose asked. "She ever let you down?"

"Not for a while," Bruce replied. "She used it as my timeout corner."

Rose snickered again. "Must have been fun."

Bruce smiled wistfully. "You don't know the half of it."

~FTF~

"_I want to be a Titan!" Bruce declared._

"_Is it because you want to be closer to Lian?" Karen Starr, his mother, asked, a knowing smile on her face._

"_No!" Bruce denied. "Being a Titan is in my blood! Every Robin was a Titan at least for a little while!"_

_Dick ruffled Bruce's hair. "I'll think about it, kiddo. But seriously, if you're gonna be a Titan, you'll have to be careful. Titans get into a lot of dangerous situations."_

"_So does the Justice League," Bruce rejoined._

_Karen chuckled, eyeing Dick out of the corner of her eye. "He has you there."_

"_Do I have to remind you of the Justice Society, Chairwoman?" Dick commented with a sly grin._

"_I can take care of myself," Bruce said. "And I'm going to be 13 in another week, so I'm perfectly eligible to be a Titan!"_

_Dick sighed. "It's not that I don't want you with the Titans. I'm sure they'll be good for you."_

"_But you worry," Bruce filled in. "That's what you always say. You worry. Well, stop worrying. I'm not going to die that quickly. And Kryptonite's harder to find than it used to be."_

"_That's why some guys stockpile the stuff," Dick amended. "So when they find you or Clark or your mother or your aunt, they can get you more easily."_

"_I'm going to be a Titan," Bruce declared with finality in his voice._

"_I know you are," Dick admitted, sighing ruefully. "I just want you to be careful. You're my son, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you."_

_Bruce hugged him, careful of his strength so as not to accidentally crush his father. "I don't want anything to happen to you, either, Dad. But that's what being a superhero's about. We take risks so other people don't have to."_

_Dick chuckled. "You've been hanging around with your Grandpa Bruce and Uncle Clark, haven't you?"_

~FTF~

"I wanna throw up on your lap," Rose commented with a smirk. "Can I?"

"No," Bruce replied tersely.

"What did you expect, telling a sappy-ass story like that?" Rose asked.

"It happened," Bruce responded. "It's not my fault my parents and I are affectionate with each other."

"With a mother like Power Girl, I'm betting a lot of kids your age wished they could be just as affectionate," Rose teased.

Bruce stared her down. "Watch it. That's my mother you're talking about."

Rose chuckled. "I get you. I'd have killed plenty of people who insulted my mom, too."

Bruce pondered that for a moment. "You never talk much about your family. I know about Slade, but . . . nothing about your mother. What was she like?"

Rose looked away sharply, closing her eye to keep the tears in. "Hey, it's ok," Bruce said. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Good, because I don't," Rose answered sharply.

_Touched a nerve, didn't I?_ Bruce thought. He sent a silent prayer. _Aphrodite, give me strength._

"So, why don't you keep going?" Rose asked, seeming to brighten up. "Tell me all about your epic romance with Lian."

"Sure," Bruce answered. "This is how my tryout for the Teen Titans went."

~FTF~

In Titans Tower, the Teen Titans watched the news report of the attack on Washington with shock and dismay. "They've gone too far," Wonder Girl muttered, seeing her mother among those detained by DOMA.

"What are they thinking?" Blue Beetle asked with breathless horror.

"I don't know," Supergirl replied. "And I don't care."

"This is going to be a twofold mission," Robin said. "We'll have to get to the bottom of why DOMA detained everyone in the Themysciran shelters and captured Wonder Woman, and find a way to stop the Amazons before any innocent casualties start up."

"They wouldn't hurt innocent people, Robin," Wonder Girl demurred.

"Depends on their definition of 'innocent,'" Robin answered stoically.

Just then, they got a transmission from Nightwing. _"Hey. Our team's going to deal with the Amazons. You focus on saving the DOMA detainees."_

"We can help," Wonder Girl said. "Supergirl and I were trained by the Amazons. They might listen to us."

"_I appreciate that,"_ Nightwing said. _"Fortunately, Donna's with us, too, and since she and Wonder Woman are sisters, maybe Hippolyta will listen to her."_

"Hopefully," Superboy remarked.

"_Conner?"_ Nightwing asked. _"What are you doing with a sword?"_

"No, Jonathan Kent," Superboy corrected. "And the sword's for a little extra backup. Like that guy Trunks from Dragon Ball Z."

"_Let me guess, you're from the future, too?"_ Nightwing asked with a sardonic grin.

"Yeah," Superboy confirmed. "Don't worry about it, Uncle Dick. We'll save those people and rendezvous with you as soon as we're done."

"_Fine by me,"_ Nightwing conceded. _"We'll need all the help we can get. Where are Redwing and Ravager?"_

"They left on some kind of mission," Wonder Girl explained. "We won't be seeing them for a while."

"_Hopefully they can come around to help out,"_ Nightwing responded.

"Knowing my bro, he'll be there," Superboy answered. "He can't miss a decent fight to save his life."

Nightwing chuckled slightly. _"Good to know. Nightwing out."_ The transmission ended, and Robin turned to the other Titans.

"We know what we have to do, so let's do it."

"Aye-aye, captain!" Superboy responded.

~FTF~

_Six months before his fourteenth birthday, Bruce Kent Grayson stood before the Titans, which consisted of Lian Harper as Arsenal, Damian Wayne as Knight, Iris West as Impulse, Milagro Reyes as Blue Beetle, Robert Queen as Phantom Arrow, and Christopher Kent as Nightwing. Besides Bruce, there stood Phantom Arrow's younger half-sister Olivia, Lara Kent, and Lara's older brother Jonathan._

"_You wanna be Titans, right?" Arsenal remarked._

"_Yeah," Bruce replied with determination._

"_Won't be easy," Impulse warned. "Believe me, I know."_

"_We're not afraid," Lara stated._

_Knight chuckled darkly. "Only fools live without fear."_

"_Let's do this already," Bruce grumbled impatiently._

"_If you say so, Robin," Arsenal commented affectionately._

_Bruce's heart couldn't help but skip a beat at the loving tone in Arsenal's voice. Jonathan poked him. "Somebody's got a crush."_

"_Will you shut up about that already?" Bruce asked._

"_No," Jonathan replied smugly. "I get lots and lots of mileage out of it."_

"_Boys," Olivia muttered with clear annoyance in her tone._

"_You're all serious about being Titans?" Chris asked. "Then let's start your entrance exam."_

~FTF~

The Teen Titans had located the DOMA detention camps for the workers and residents of the Themysciran shelters. Now, they were on their way to rescue the detainees, piloting a retrofitted Tamaranean fighter ship to get there. "Remember, we don't hurt the guards too badly," Robin instructed. "They're just doing what they've been told."

"Like that's an excuse," Kid Devil remarked acidly.

"No, it isn't," Robin admitted. "But all the same, make sure there're no unnecessary casualties."

"We'll make sure all right," Wonder Girl muttered.

The fighter's stealth mode had been activated, rendering the Titans invisible to electronic and audiovisual detection. When they reached the DOMA camp, Robin gently lowered the fighter. "Go in quiet," he ordered.

"Well, that's a shame," Superboy remarked. "I was looking forward to making some noise." When Robin aimed a sidelong glare at the half-Kryptonian, he raised his hands in surrender. "I was joking."

When the Titans went in, they split up so they could go in from all sides. In the process, they knocked out the DOMA troops guarding the entryways. Slipping into the camp, they searched for those being held prisoner by DOMA. Wonder Girl was the first to find a set of detainees, among them her mother Helena Sandsmark.

"Mom!" she exclaimed.

"Cassie!" Helena whispered.

"Don't worry, Mom, I'm gonna get you out of here," Wonder Girl whispered, moving forward to rip the cell doors apart.

"Cassie, no!" Helena warned, but Wonder Girl had already ripped the doors open, which set off an alarm. Apparently, the doors had been electronically rigged so that the alarms would go off if they were tampered with, no matter how successful the tampering was.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Wonder Girl shouted, extending her hand to her mother.

More alarms went off, signaling that other Titans had gone for the direct approach as well. As Wonder Girl led her mother and the other detainees with her away, they were cut off by a practical swarm of DOMA troops.

"Stand down, Wonder Girl," the apparent leader ordered.

"No," Wonder Girl answered coldly, whipping out her lasso and tying the DOMA troop leader with it. Channeling her anger into the lasso, divine lightning flowed through it and into the troop leader, shocking him into unconsciousness.

"Cassie!" Helena exclaimed in horror at her daughter's seeming callousness.

Wonder Girl glared at the other DOMA troops, silently challenging them to avenge their leader. They began to attack, shooting their high-powered particle beam rifles at her. Like how she'd been taught by Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl used her bracelets to deflect the particle blasts, moving her arms so quickly they blurred into near-invisibility. Tiring of blocking their blasts, Wonder Girl went in close, making sure they didn't have nearly the space to shoot at her or anyone else.

~FTF~

"_How does it feel to be a Titan?" Lian asked Bruce._

"_Feels great," Bruce replied, now known as Nightwing after Conner had given the Superman name to Chris._

"_Why did you want to be a Titan?" Lian asked._

"_Because that was where my dad started," Bruce answered. "Even with the Justice League, I never saw him quite as happy as when he was with his friends from the original Titans. He even said to me once that being a Titan meant being part of a family, a family bound by more than just blood. It sounded really cool to me."_

_Lian smiled. "Yeah, that's pretty much why I became a Titan, too. According to my dad, the Titans were there for him when Grandpa Ollie wasn't."_

"_That's how my dad described the Titans, too," Bruce acknowledged._

"_Speaking of, my dad still can't believe your dad married your mom," Lian remarked, a sly smile making its way onto her face._

"_What can I say?" Bruce asked. "Fate moves in pretty strange directions sometimes."_

"_Sure does," Lian agreed. "Hey, you wanna go out? It's on me."_

_Bruce looked at Lian, surprised. "You . . . wanna go out with me?"_

"_Yeah," Lian affirmed. "Surprised?"_

"_A little bit, yeah," Bruce admitted._

"_I like you," Lian blurted out._

"_I've always liked you," Bruce confessed. "When I was a little kid, it was my greatest ambition to marry you when I grew up."_

"_Well, you look plenty grown to me," Lian answered with a sultry smirk. "So how about we give it a try?"_

"_Sure," Bruce said, "but it's on me. A gentleman never makes a lady pay for him."_

~FTF~

The adult Titans – Nightwing, Donna Troy, Wally West, Red Arrow, Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, and Jericho – had made their way to Washington, D.C. to battle the legion of Amazons that were attacking the DOMA center that held Wonder Woman as a captive. At the moment, Red Arrow and the Amazon archer known as Artemis were exchanging and dodging volleys of arrows.

"You're not half-bad," Artemis remarked.

"Thanks," Red Arrow answered. "You're pretty damn good yourself. Say . . . you mind if we settle this peacefully and then go somewhere together?"

Artemis's stare hardened, and she shot another arrow at Red Arrow, who found himself barely able to dodge in time. Red Arrow just chuckled to himself before speaking again.

"So I should take that as a no?"

_Roy,_ Nightwing thought as he acrobatically evaded several Amazons' attacks. _Never met a woman he didn't want to mess around with, even if she was trying to kill him._

"You are quite skilled," one Amazon complimented.

"Not really," Nightwing replied as he threw a Wingblade at the Amazon complimenting him, throwing off her sword arm. "I just practice a lot."

Wally West, the Flash, dashed around the Amazons, knocking scores of them down within the space between seconds. Cyborg used his sonic cannon to disrupt his opponents' equilibrium, disorienting them enough for Jericho to make eye contact with one and possess her. As soon as he'd entered her body, he began directing her to attack her fellow Amazons, setting the stage for Raven to use her empathic abilities to knock them unconscious.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was shape-shifting into various animals, taking advantage of his alternate forms' strength or speed or dexterity or maneuverability or toughness in order to fight the Amazons more easily. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that many of the Amazons were accustomed to hunting for their meals and had thus honed their reflexes so that they could challenge him no matter what form he took.

Donna was fighting Hippolyta directly. "This isn't the way to save Diana!" she protested.

"They forced our hand, daughter," Hippolyta replied as she blocked Donna's assaults. "I don't wish to fight you. You are just as much my daughter as Diana is. Please . . . come to our side. Join us in saving your sister."

"We _are_ going to save Diana," Donna retorted, "but the way you're going about it is only going to make things worse!"

"For them perhaps," Hippolyta responded.

"What about your mission to bring peace to the world of men?" Donna asked. "Have you forgotten about that?"

"They don't want peace," Hippolyta answered bitterly. "They only wish to wage war and kill anything and everything that stands between them and their goals, even if it's each other."

"You can't believe that!" Donna exclaimed in shock.

"I don't need to," Hippolyta replied. "The proof lies in what they've done to Diana."

"There's no reasoning with you, is there?" Donna concluded sadly, even as she redoubled her attacks on Hippolyta.

"I will do what I must to save my daughter," Hippolyta answered.

"And I'll do what I have to," Donna retorted.

~FTF~

"Sounds like you and Lian got along great," Rose remarked. "So why'd you break up?"

"Age difference," Bruce replied. "She was just out of college at twenty-something, and I wasn't even sixteen years old yet. It was either that, or she went to jail for sleeping with a minor."

Rose chuckled. "So you lost your virginity to her? Bet Roy wasn't pleased to find out about that."

"Neither were my parents," Bruce replied. "They forbade me to see her for anything except Titans-related business and even then we were supposed to keep it brief. Me, I just couldn't stay away. It was like she had a spell on me or something."

"So what'd they do to keep their baby boy from having his innocence soiled even more by that naughty, naughty archer girl?" Rose asked teasingly.

"They strapped me with red sunlight bracers," Bruce replied, "to keep me from just super-speeding my way to Lian and back. Not that it worked all that well; I just got creative."

"How creative?" Rose asked.

Bruce smiled, half-sheepishly, half-mischievously. "Let's just say . . . really, really creative."

"Oh, you bad, bad boy," Rose drawled.

"I'm not that bad," Bruce answered. "At least not compared to some people I knew." He snickered slightly.

Just then, the P.A. came on. _"Attention, all passengers. We are about to land at . . ."_

Bruce tuned him out. He knew where they were going, anyway. "So who are we gonna pick up first?" Rose asked.

"I'm thinking we've got a serious need for speed," Bruce answered.

"Who are you thinking of?" Rose inquired.

"You'll see when we catch up to him," Bruce replied, just as the plane landed on the runway.

~FTF~

Having managed to defeat the DOMA troops and save the detainees, the Teen Titans were now making their way to Washington, D.C. to rendezvous with their adult counterparts. "Whatever you do, no stupid moves, all right?" Superboy advised.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wonder Girl asked.

"You and Aunt Kara brought down Air Force One and kidnapped the President of the United States," Superboy explained. "It went down in history as the most absolutely stupid thing any superhero could do. Hell, it was so monumentally idiotic that newbie superheroes are expressly discouraged from trying anything on that level of stupid."

"We wouldn't do that," Supergirl protested.

"Well, maybe not now . . ." Superboy trailed off.

"We'll be careful," Robin cut in, landing the Tamaranean fighter ship.

The Teen Titans emerged onto the battlefield and joined the fray. "Thanks for coming!" Beast Boy shouted. "We could use the help!"

"No problem," Superboy answered.

"Hey, wait, you're not –!" Beast Boy uttered.

"Explanations later," Robin cut him off. "He is for right now, and we'll need all the help we can get."

Artemis spotted Wonder Girl and Supergirl. "Come to join us? Or will you stand with your Titans?"

"This isn't the way to save Diana, Artemis!" Wonder Girl replied.

Artemis dodged another volley of arrows from Red Arrow before drawing her own arrows and firing at the red-clad archer. "It's the only way left to us. Now stand aside or I'll be forced to treat you as the enemy."

"She doesn't sound like she's in a mood to listen to reason," Supergirl commented.

"Then we'll make her listen," Wonder Girl answered.

"Grandma Hippolyta!" Superboy called out, gaining her attention with the sword he'd just unsheathed. "It's nice to see you, but it shouldn't have been like this!"

"_Grandma_ Hippolyta?" Donna repeated, stunned by what Superboy had just said . . . and the sword in his hand.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hippolyta asked, indignant at the sight of Superboy brandishing the sword. "What are you doing with the Sword of Hephaestus?"

"I'm your grandson from the future," Superboy replied. "That's what I'm doing with the Sword of Hephaestus."


	8. To Reverse

Disclaimer: Teen Titans, as well as the larger universe it inhabits, belongs to DC Comics and DC Entertainment. The only characters here that we own are Bruce Kent Grayson and Jonathan Kent II. We make no profit whatsoever from this story and we are only doing this for fun.

Author's note: Sorry for not publishing a new chapter in so long. Life and other stories have interfered, and I have been in the midst of a dreadful malaise. Alas, some life-changing circumstances were the kick in the pants I needed to start working on fixing said life, and since writing is such a big part of my life, I figured I might as well take care of that, too.

In any event, I am concluding the arc introducing the Flamebird from the future, a.k.a. Jonathan Kent II and presently known as Superboy. If anybody is underwhelmed by how quickly the debacle that could have been Amazons Attack ended, consider it a commentary on how underwhelming and overwhelmingly stupid an idea it was to begin with. Also, "Redwing" and Ravager will still have a role to play in this story, and it will take them right to the Justice Society, for whom I sincerely apologize in advance if my characterizations are not true to form. It's unfortunately been a while since I kept up with their comics, especially in this age of the New 52.

Now, onward!

"Titan of the Future"

Chapter 8: "To Reverse"

~FTF~

"What is the meaning of this?" Hippolyta asked.

Artemis glared at Superboy, releasing an arrow aimed squarely between his eyes. For his part, Superboy cut the arrow in half with Hephaestus' Sword. "Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm lying."

Hippolyta looked into Superboy's eyes and was startled to find no falsehood in his demeanor or words. "How is this possible?"

"It's a long story involving time travel," Superboy replied. "That's not the point, though. The point now is that somebody's manipulating all of us. You and DOMA alike are being tricked into some kind of open confrontation that's only going to result in a lot of dead people. How did you find out about Mom?"

"Why should we tell you that?" Artemis asked harshly.

"Because we're trying to save her, too," Nightwing answered.

"It was Circe," Hippolyta answered. "She informed us of what had been done to Diana by the American government."

"And you just believed her?" Donna inquired. "Circe lies all the time!"

"She wasn't lying about this," Phillippus rejoined.

"Probably not, but only because she was responsible for it in the first place," Donna answered.

Hippolyta had a look of dawning horror on her face. "We've been had . . ."

"I'd say so," Supergirl remarked.

"So . . . what do we do now?" Blue Beetle asked. "I mean, we still have to save Wonder Woman, right?"

"Yeah, but it won't be easy," Cyborg replied. "I'm willing to bet Circe influenced some top guys in the government so that it'd go over a little easier."

"And she was counting on having the Amazons fight the government to the death over Diana," the Flash concluded. "But why?"

"Circe is what Circe does," Superboy answered. "But never mind that now. We've gotta save my mother."

~FTF~

"What are _you_ doing here?" Inertia asked.

"I'm here to make you an offer," Bruce replied, sitting across from Inertia while straddling the back of the chair. Rose stood beside him, fixing Inertia with a cold glare with her good eye.

"What kind of offer would that be?" Inertia asked.

"How'd you like to be a hero?" Bruce asked. "Do some good and all?"

"Are you kidding me?" Inertia scoffed. "What makes you think I want to be one of you guys?"

"I'm not saying join the Titans," Bruce explained. "I'm saying join me and Rose. We're on our way to doing something, something to change the world for the better."

"Change the world?" Inertia repeated cynically. "Just what kind of idiot do you take me for? You can't change the world."

"No, but we can at least be your friends," Bruce answered. "And even that can be a start to changing the world."

Inertia paused, as though uncertain of how exactly to phrase his denial of Bruce's offer.

"Think about it," Rose said. "If not for him, then how about me? You can make Bart jealous . . ."

"What makes you think I care about him?" Inertia sneered.

"I was his first crush," Rose answered, smirking. "Think about it. You can rub it in his face that you were able to accomplish something he couldn't."

"And that would be you and I . . ." Inertia trailed off, grinning with mischief in his eyes.

"Something like that," Rose replied, still smirking.

"Then you have me," Inertia said. He looked at Bruce. "So, how about we go on and fight bad guys?"

"That'd be great," Bruce replied, trying his best not to give away how uneasy he was about the tactic Rose had used to get Inertia to join them.

~FTF~

Having given the other Titans the slip, Nightwing now prowled through the DOMA detention center where Wonder Woman was imprisoned. It hadn't been an easy thing to get there, since the facility had been built using a lot of lead, presumably to block Superman's X-Ray vision. That didn't matter now; he was inside and nothing was going to stop him from getting Wonder Woman out.

DOMA guards began pouring in to stop him. "Hey, you guys," Nightwing greeted them. "Sorry, but I don't have time right now. I've got someone important to see."

The guards raised their pulse rifles, ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Ok, since you came all this way . . ." Nightwing remarked. "I guess I can stick around for a while."

That was the last thing they should have wanted, as Nightwing implacably carved a path through his opposition. With a combination of dazzling acrobatics and precisely timed hits, he brought them down one by one. Heedless of the pile of unconscious guards he'd left in his wake, Nightwing strolled to Wonder Woman's cell.

"I really must commend you on getting this far," a sultry feminine voice greeted him. "I see the Bat has taught you well."

"Circe," Nightwing growled, whirling to face her while throwing an explosive wing shuriken at her. Circe merely turned it into a living bat that then disappeared in a flurry of smoke.

"Really, Nightwing? You thought you could take me down with that?" Circe asked mockingly. "You're quite handsome, but it seems you've inherited his habit of biting off more than you can chew."

Nightwing smirked. "Nah, I just counted on that drawing your attention enough for this." He swept out of the way of the cell door, making way for Wonder Woman to walk out.

"Hello, Circe," Wonder Woman greeted.

"You have a very clever boy toy," Circe commented. "Or is he available?"

Wonder Woman cracked her knuckles, ignoring Circe's commentary on Nightwing. "So you're behind all this. What have you done with Sarge Steel?"

"Oh, you figured out that wasn't really him giving the orders?" Circe mocked. "Oh, well."

"Be serious, Circe," Wonder Woman insisted, dashing to Circe and pinning her to the wall with her elbow. "Where is the real Sarge Steel?"

Circe laughed. "You think I'd tell you that so easily?"

"We already know who your imposter really is," Nightwing answered. "You can either tell us what he's done with the real Sarge Steel, or we can make you tell us."

Circe let out another laugh. "You have quite the sense of humor, Nightwing. No wonder the ladies love you so."

Nightwing's determined expression didn't shift for even a moment. "Enough games, Circe."

"But I _like_ playing games!" Circe taunted as she began bombarding both Nightwing and Wonder Woman with bolts of mystical force, bolts that Wonder Woman deflected with her bracelets. Nightwing used his own acrobatic skills to evade Circe's blasts.

"I'll find Sarge! He's probably still somewhere in here so Everyman can use him to maintain his disguise!" Nightwing shouted to Wonder Woman.

"Then that leaves me to worry about Circe," Wonder Woman replied as she deflected another mystic bolt from Circe.

"Pretty boy won't go very far," Circe mocked. "But it _is_ fun to see him try."

"Nightwing is more resourceful than you think," was the retort from Wonder Woman as she closed in on the immortal sorceress for a fierce uppercut.

Circe just smirked despite the force Wonder Woman had put into her blow. "Oh? Care to tell me how you've fallen for another mortal . . . and the son of the man you once had such an endearing crush on, no less!"

Wonder Woman didn't answer in words, but responded by binding the demigod sorceress with her lasso. "Oh, Diana . . ." Circe purred with a mocking undertone. "You must love doing this to people . . . Ever try it on that Superman fellow? He surely seems like a hard man to tie down, but what fun must he be when you do get him tied down!"

Wonder Woman's eyes flared, and the next thing she knew, Circe was alight in golden flames coming from the lasso itself. "Yes!" she cried out near-ecstatically. "The cleansing fire of divine truth! Who knew that all I needed to do to get that power to show would be to tease you about loving that big hunk of space alien manhood! You _really_ _are_ transparent!" She laughed.

"Quiet!" Wonder Woman shouted, using her lasso to slam Circe into the wall. "You've drawn my fellow Amazons into a suicidal war, you've turned my comrades here into pawns in your sick game, and for what? What is your game, Circe?"

"You wanna know?" Circe taunted. "Lean closer. I'll tell you."

"No," Wonder Woman declared. "You'll tell me like this."

"But it's _so juicy,_ Diana!" Circe taunted, her voice ironically mellifluous with wicked mischief.

Wonder Woman let out a low angry growl and pulled Circe closer. "I will ask you once again. Tell me. What is your game?"

Circe used her position to lean over to whisper in Diana's ear, which caused Diana's eyes to widen. "You . . ."

"Oh, yes . . ." Circe whispered throatily. "Me."

~FTF~

Nightwing hadn't had an easy time locating Sarge Steel. Having to go through his men, who believed they were taking orders from Sarge when they were really taking them from Everyman, was not exactly fun, especially since he didn't want to hurt them much. They were just being tricked, after all, and didn't deserve the kind of brutality that a less empathetic person would dish out to them. Eventually, he had gotten past them to find the real Sarge Steel . . . only to get clocked in the back of the head by Everyman, who was still using Sarge Steel's form.

To Everyman's surprise, Nightwing just laughed. "Do you have any idea how many guys have tried doing that to me?" he asked. "My head's a bit harder than you punks think."

Everyman smirked. "Nightwing. The real big cheese of the superhero community. The guy everybody loves and looks up to . . . yeah, I've heard all about you. According to some people, you're even bigger than Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman combined."

"Thanks for the flattery, but you're not delaying me at all," Nightwing answered. "Though you're free to keep going if you think stroking my ego's gonna help you."

Everyman growled. "I'm gonna chew you up . . . and then I'm gonna be you! Imagine all the women I could get!"

Nightwing just looked at Everyman askance. "Really. The guy who's got more clout in the superhero community than Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman combined according to you, and all you can think to do with it is get women?" He shook his head derisively. "You are so small-time. No wonder Circe could rope you that easily."

Everyman's borrowed face twisted into a snarl and he lunged at the man who had mocked him, only for said man to casually leap and flip out of Everyman's range. Landing gracefully behind Everyman, the acrobatic hero twisted around for a spin kick to the shape-shifter's solar plexus that knocked him to the ground. With Everyman down for the moment, Nightwing moved to the real Sarge Steel, who looked like he had seen better days, to say the least, and began to cut him out of his restraints.

"You'd be amazed what a razor wing sharpened to an edge no thicker than a molecule can actually accomplish," he quipped. As he was about to completely free Sarge Steel, he could see Everyman rising behind Sarge, reverted to his original form. Without much fanfare, he reached past Sarge and punched Everyman hard enough to knock him unconscious. He turned back to Sarge Steel. "You good to go?"

Sarge Steel gave Nightwing a deadly smirk. "What do _you_ think, kid?"

~FTF~

"I'm getting a radio call from Nightwing," Red Arrow said. He paused to listen more closely. "You got Wonder Woman out?"

"He freed Diana?" Hippolyta repeated.

"Sounds like it," Cyborg replied. "And I bet Circe's getting all she can handle and then some."

"And Sarge Steel is free, too," Red Arrow added. "Guess that means we're _not_ going to see an all-out throwdown between the Amazons and the U.S.A."

"How fortunate for _them,_" Artemis scoffed.

"What do we do now?" the Flash wondered. "As much of a relief as this all is, it feels a little anticlimactic."

Hippolyta gazed curiously yet warmly at the new Superboy. Now that she looked more closely upon him, she could see that while he did resemble a younger Superman, his eyes were a lot more like Diana's. "What is your name, young man?" she inquired.

"Superboy."

"No, young man, your given name," Hippolyta amended.

Superboy walked up to Hippolyta and whispered it in her ear. "Jon Kent."

"That is his birth name?" Hippolyta whispered. "Kent?"

"Yes," Superboy admitted. "The name of his parents here on Earth."

"He has parents?" Hippolyta wondered. "He actually lived as a simple man when he had the power of gods?"

Superboy smiled. "If it wasn't for my paternal grandparents, my father would have been a much different man. It's because of them that the world has a Superman to protect it instead of trying to rule or destroy it."

Hippolyta chuckled slightly, which puzzled the Amazons and anyone else who couldn't hear the whispered conversation between her and her grandson from the future. "Wonder what he said," the Flash dryly mused.

"Must have been really good, getting her to laugh like that," was the comment from Phillippus, who had a cryptic smile on her face.

Hippolyta smiled slowly at Superboy. "I suppose it is no wonder that your father and mother were drawn to each other . . . and still are, no matter how they would protest if anyone voiced that aloud. Kindred spirits are like magnets to one another."

"A magnetism joke, Grandma?" Superboy groaned. "Please. Your sense of humor is 3,000 years out of date."

"Whelp," Hippolyta grunted, though there was no real anger in it, just amusement at what a mischievous imp her grandson was. Not much different from Diana in her youth, the Amazon queen privately mused.

"Should we not see to it that our Princess is freed as the scion of the Batman claimed?" Artemis inquired archly.

Hippolyta's expression hardened. "We should . . . and have our own chance to confront Circe for luring us into a foolish course of action that would have only ended in our demise."

Wonder Girl and Supergirl both smirked ominously. They hadn't liked their divided loyalties between the Titans and the Amazons, and to know that Circe had set off what could have been total disaster for both sides . . . oh, they were looking forward to getting some payback of their own.

Donna cracked her knuckles, sounding out the common thought on the Amazons' minds. "Let's give Diana a hand with Circe."

~FTF~

Inside the brownstone of the Justice Society of America, the heroes assembled in the meeting room heard a knock on the door. "Who wants to get that?" Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern of Earth, sardonically asked.

"Might as well," Alan's shadow-manipulating son Todd Rice, a.k.a. Obsidian replied with equal dryness in his tone. Moving through the shadows of the brownstone, he reached the front door and opened it. "Who are you, and why are you dressed like Superman Red?"

It was none other than Redwing, wearing a dark red suit with silver accents, a silver scalloped cape with red lining, and a silver S-shield on a dark red background. Flanking him were Ravager and Inertia, neither looking all too enthused about being there.

"Name's Redwing, and I'd like to speak to the Justice Society."

"Who are your friends?" Obsidian asked.

"Ravager."

"Inertia."

"This could be a problem . . ." Obsidian murmured.

~FTF~

That was how Redwing and Jay Garrick, the original Flash, came to be staring each other down from across the round table. Surrounding them were the other members of the Justice Society, all of whom were on guard against any potential trickery on Redwing's part or that of his associates. It was Jay who broke the tense silence.

"I suppose you're to thank for Bart Allen still being alive?"

"Yeah," Redwing admitted. "I am."

Jay's expression softened somewhat. "Thank you. The boy is like a grandson to me. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if he'd died."

"I know what that's like," Redwing murmured.

Jay's gaze turned to the blond doppelganger of Bart Allen, garbed in a black-and-green version of Bart's Impulse costume. "So you're him. Inertia. Bart's brother."

"Clone," Inertia amended irritably.

"You don't have to define yourself like that," Jay said. "As just a thing. You're just as much a person as Bart, and you deserve to be treated as such, no matter how you were born."

Inertia snorted. "You remind me of that Max Mercury."

"A wise man," Jay commented.

"Just who are you, anyway?" the notoriously busty – and mighty – Power Girl interrogated Redwing.

"Hi, Mom," Redwing answered. "Nice to see you, too, even if you won't know me for a few years yet . . . if ever . . ."

"Mom?" Power Girl repeated. "Are you _joking?_ If so, it's not funny."

"Power Girl as a momma," Ted Grant, the original Wildcat, quipped. "Now _that's_ funny."

Redwing looked at Dr. Mid-Nite. "I'll give you a sample of my DNA and you can test it from there. You'll see I'm not lying."

"How do you plan to do that?" Dr. Mid-Nite asked. "If you are Power Girl's son . . ."

"Where's your bathroom?" Redwing asked.

Ravager palmed her bandana-masked face. "Oh, mother of . . ."

"_This_ is the guy we're letting lead us?" Inertia groaned.

Dr. Mid-Nite escorted Redwing to the bathroom and waited for him to produce the DNA sample he needed. In the meantime, Ravager and Inertia were stuck with the rest of the Justice Society of America. This fact elicited an annoyed huff from Ravager, who had embarked on a staring contest with Cyclone.

"You look like Candyland threw up on you," Ravager spat.

"You must be Ravager," Cyclone answered, unfazed by Ravager's insult. "I like your costume. You really know how to work chainmail – and it's not even one of those chainmail bikinis like they have in all those fantasy stories where everyone's supposed to be a seasoned warrior and yet the women run out practically naked and . . ." She trailed off when she remembered she was in the same room as Power Girl, infamous for not only her massive bust but also for the cleavage window that so highlighted it. "Anyway, is it safe for you to have your neck exposed like that, because unless you have a healing factor like your dad . . ." She stopped again at Ravager's scowl. "I'm sorry . . . you two must not be on speaking terms these days . . ."

Stargirl placed a hand on Cyclone's arm to stop her. "Sorry. She does that. A lot."

"I see," Ravager curtly responded.

"She reminds me of someone I know," Inertia commented. "But he wasn't half as cute."

Cyclone blushed, while Ravager tried to punch Inertia in the shoulder, only for him to flash out of her reach and behind her. "Sorry, babe. You know you're still my girl, right?"

"Not yet," Ravager retorted.

Jay scowled at Inertia. For all that he looked like Bart Allen, he was most definitely _unlike_ Bart Allen. Bart was impulsive and had a devil-may-care approach to life, but Inertia seemed to just _not_ care about toying with people, particularly the hearts of sensitive girls. It wasn't that Cyclone couldn't take care of herself, but being who he was, Jay couldn't help but feel a certain protectiveness that kicked in around the young people in his charge.

Wildcat growled, and it wasn't the werecat Tom Bronson doing it, it was his very human father Ted. "Punk . . ." he muttered.

Inertia just eyed Jesse Chambers, currently Liberty Belle. "You know, I liked you better when you were Jesse Quick."

"Like I care what you like," Liberty Belle retorted acidly.

"Your sharp tongue wounds me," Inertia answered melodramatically.

Rick Tyler, Hourman, scowled at Inertia behind his mask. "You don't seem to care very much for personal boundaries, do you?"

Inertia shrugged nonchalantly, just before Dr. Mid-Nite called in over the intercom. _"Everyone, come in. Terrific and I have news for you about our mysterious new hero."_

Thus, they all went in, with Inertia speeding through first. "So what's the what, Doc?" he asked.

"His story checks out," Mister Terrific replied. "Mid-Nite and I went over his DNA with a fine-tooth comb. No doubt about it, the half of his DNA that's Kryptonian came from you, Power Girl."

Power Girl looked utterly discombobulated, and that was saying a lot for a woman who seemed as unflappable in spirit as she was in body. "My dad had the same look when he found out you were pregnant . . . or so you told me," Redwing remarked.

"Who . . . is your father, anyway?" Power Girl asked.

"That's the other half of his DNA," Dr. Mid-Nite replied. "The human half came from Richard John Grayson, whom we all know better as Nightwing."

"World's Finest . . ." Stargirl commented.

"That's awesome!" Cyclone exclaimed. "Superman and Batman are like in-laws now!"

"Not _now,_" Redwing corrected. "20 years from now, give or take."

"How the hell do Nightwing and I get together?" Power Girl asked.

"Why spoil it?" Redwing rejoined. "Besides, I tell you too much about the future, who knows what it'll do? Might end up not even existing at all, or I might be one of those temporal strings that gets cut and left adrift in the sea of reality."

"You're surprisingly cavalier about this," Mister Terrific wryly mused.

"Have to be," Redwing responded. "It's either that, or go stark raving mad and with my kind of power . . . I can't let myself do that."

"I would also like to talk to you about something," Mister Terrific said to Inertia.

"Why?" Inertia asked.

"Your DNA might be the key to stabilizing Bart's," Mister Terrific replied. "Since you two are near-identical, barring the modifications made to your genome."

"Why would I help him?" Inertia scoffed.

"Because he'd do the same for you," Ravager answered. "That's the kind of guy he is."

Inertia was about to say, "His problem," when he felt himself filled with the presence of Barry Allen. It was all around him and seeping throughout the entire room, soothing lightning spread throughout the entire area he was in.

"_Do you want to do this, Thad?"_ Barry asked. _"Abandon your brother? Abandon the second chance you've been given? There is no reason for you to go on hating him . . . not when there is still so much for the two of you to do together."_

"Together?" Inertia echoed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"_The Speed Force will need him, just as it will need you,_" Barry continued. _"You will have to work together as brothers if you wish to survive the coming crisis."_

"If I help him, will you stop haunting me?" Inertia asked. "Because I really don't want you dropping in on me while I'm having my fun."

"_I will always be with you, Thad,"_ Barry replied. _"You are as much my grandson as Bart is. Your blood is as much Allen as it is Thawne. It is up to you which side you accept."_

"Cryptic crap," Inertia grumbled. "I'll save Bart's ass just so I don't have to deal with you for a while."

Barry chuckled, his electrically glowing form fading out into lightning that rushed through and out of Inertia and the Justice Society's med-lab. "What was that?" Jay asked.

"You felt it, too, old-timer?" Inertia asked. "Thought I was the only one seeing . . ."

Liberty Belle cleared her throat to get his attention. "If you don't mind, Dr. Mid-Nite was about to tell you something he and Terrific found in Bart's blood."

"The rapid aging from his trip into the Speed Force to stop Superboy-Prime, his absorption of the Speed Force in its entirety, and then having it expelled from his body and redistributed into its original form – it's caused his body to start breaking down," Dr. Mid-Nite replied. "He won't notice it at first because he'll be too busy reacquainting himself with his powers, but it'll come crashing down on him, and the more he uses his powers, the worse it'll get. As his twin, for lack of a better term, your blood will be able to counteract his physical degeneration, but he may end up reverting to the age he should have been."

Inertia smirked. "Guess I can hold it over his head that he owes me his life."

Liberty Belle started toward Inertia, fully intending to give the dark speedster a piece of her mind when Hourman stopped her. "If that's how he has to justify it to himself, it hardly matters," he advised her. "He'll get his attitude adjustment later."

Liberty Belle calmed somewhat, but the scowl she aimed in Inertia's direction told him it was far from over . . . as did the slug in his arm from Ravager. Unfazed, Inertia eyed Dr. Mid-Nite and Mister Terrific. "Let's get this party started, huh?"

~FTF~


End file.
